The Cycliste Moderne, December 19, 2005

This week’s edition is going to be short. I am in the midst of a stretch of three hearings in six days. Have I used performance enhancing drugs to get through? No, unless you consider 40 oz. of Diet Coke and massive doses of ibuprofen each day to be performance enhancing. It is just a good thing that WADA does not test attorneys because many attorneys rely upon “performance enhancing” substances just to get started every day.

The December issue of Outside magazine provides an excellent account of Lance Armstrong’s ongoing legal fights. The article provides real insight into Armstrong’s long running fight with British reporter David Walsh, the actions of L’Equipe in running its story this summer regarding allegations of doping in 1999, and his ongoing legal disputes.

Since the article was published, Armstrong settled the lawsuit involving his one time personal assistant Mike Anderson. Anderson alleged that Armstrong had agreed to finance a bike shop Anderson wanted to open but instead, Armstrong fired him after his discovery that Armstrong possessed doping products. Anderson’s claims had largely been thrown out as a result of a summary judgment motion Armstrong had filed, but the parties reached a settlement and issued a short press release indicating the matter was resolved.

Additionally, this week Italian judicial officials decided to proceed with a defamation claim against Armstrong arising from his running dispute with Italian pro Filippo Simeoni. Simeoni was convicted of sporting violations after admitting taking EPO that he claimed to have been provided by Armstrong’s Italian physician, Michele Ferrari. Armstrong, in an interview with a French news paper, called Simeoni a liar when he implicated Ferrari in a doping investigation. Simeoni and Armstrong had a heated exchange during last year’s Tour de France when Armstrong chased down a group with Simeoni and refused to leave the group unless Simeoni dropped back to the peleton. Armstrong was initially investigated for those actions based upon Italy’s sporting fraud laws but nothing has come of that incident. Now, however, Italian officials have decided to proceed to trial on the defamation claim.

Those actions are confusing to most Americans familiar with Anglo-American notions of jurisprudence, which is adversarial, as opposed to the continental European jurisprudence that is based on an inquisitorial structure. Prosecutors act as investigating judges and where matters that, in the United States or the United Kingdom, would be truly civil in nature have a quasi criminal appearance. Additionally, European legal commentators are already wondering how Italian officials can establish jurisdiction to punish an American for comments he made to a French newspaper in France about an Italian cyclist.

Although Armstrong announced over the weekend that he will never go back to the Tour de France, you kind of get the feeling that he will be like a certain former United States president who, after much controversy and contention during his term of office, finds himself retired at a young age with many years of life ahead of him. We most likely will hear a great deal from Armstrong for many more years to come.