Lance Armstrong

None of his accusers have produced evidence to substantiate the rumors. Berg's family blamed the U.S. [2] (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/jun05/jun01news). in Saudi Arabia, and South Korean Kim Sun-il in Iraq, both in June 2004. In 2005, Italian police are investigating Armstrong for "private violence" and intimidating a witness as a result of this incident. There were two subsequent similar beheadings also claimed by Islamic militants: American Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr. Armstrong's tactic was controversial, with some commentators considering it vindictive. Others viewed it as a demonstration by Armstrong that he did not need drugs to be a superior rider to Simeoni. For further details, see Nick Berg conspiracy theories.

The breakaway went on to take the stage. complicity in the death. It was apparent that the peloton would chase down a breakaway which included Armstrong, so Simeoni was persuaded to leave it - with Armstong. Conspiracy theories are forming suggesting U.S. He told the members of the breakaway that he would be staying with them if Simeoni was present. We will pursue those who are responsible and bring them to justice.". Armstrong, however, single-handedly chased them down. They have no regard for the lives of innocent men, women and children.

As there was nobody in the breakaway that threatened in the general classification, the group stood a good chance of staying in front until the finish line. [11] (http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/20645.htm) White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan commented, regarding the incident: "It shows the true nature of the enemies of freedom. In stage 18 Simeoni was in a group that had broken away from the main peloton. Others see Berg's slaying as a reminder of why the United States is waging a War on Terror. During the 2004 Tour, the Armstrong-Simeoni feud manifested its presence during the race itself [1] (http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/details/articles/6647.0.html). Islam does prohibit the killing or the maltreatment of prisoners." [10] (http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-05/12/article03.shtml). Armstrong stated that Simeoni was not telling the truth, calling him "a compulsive liar", and a legal process started between the two. Even if he was military personnel he should be treated as a prisoner who, according to Shari'ah, must not be killed." Iyaad Samarrai of the Islamic Party commented "This is absolutely wrong.

Ferrari. Muthanna al-Dhari, a member of the Board of Muslim Clergy, said the act "does disservice to our religion and our cause. Ferrari did not go beyond occasional consultations on altitude training and diet. Another racer, Italian Filippo Simeoni, implicated Armstrong when confessing to the use of illegal drugs prescribed by Dr. Iraqi conservative and fundamentalist religious leaders also denounced the killing. Michele Ferrari, who in 2004 was found guilty in an Italian court for unlawful distribution of medicines and sporting fraud. Armstrong has stated that his connection to Dr. Hezbollah issued a statement calling it a "horrible act that does an immense wrong to Islam and Muslims by a group which falsely pretends to follow the precepts of the religion of pardon.". Particularly vocal have been Greg LeMond, the only other American to have won the Tour, and the French newspaper Le Monde, who have questioned his association with doctor/trainer, Dr. Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah and Palestinian nationalist group Hamas denounced the murder.

In 1999 he tested positive for a corticoid, and although he did not declare taking the medication on the form before the test, the UCI accepted it was in his system due to his use of a legal skin cream to treat road rash and saddle sores. Scholars at Al-Azhar University in Cairo issued a declaration of condemnation [9] (http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-05/12/article08.shtml), as did numerous Muslim groups in the West including the Council on American-Islamic Relations. When training, Lance boosts his red blood cell count through cycling at altitude and sleeping in an altitude tent. In the Muslim world, the killing of Berg was strongly condemned. Specifically, his hematocrit rate was never found to exceed the threshold above what suggests that the racer used the drug EPO, which was once rife throughout cycling (though Armstrong did take EPO for one of its approved medical uses, to help his recovery during cancer treatment, there is no suggestion that this was an unfair advantage for his subsequent cycling achievements).
. However, despite being subjected to dozens of drug tests, he has never proved positive to any illicit substance. The video bears some similarities to the videotape showing the murder and decapitation of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002. Like Pearl, Berg was Jewish, although it is uncertain whether his captors were aware of that. There are many differences noted with other decapitation videos, including the decapitation video of Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia and the video of Kim Sun-il in Iraq.

Like many top international sports men and women, Armstrong has long been dogged by allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Postal Team competes in races worldwide, the riders selected to join Armstrong in the Tour de France are there specifically to help Armstrong win the Yellow Jersey. President George W. While the U.S. slaughtered in this way." The video further threatens U.S. Some have attributed Armstrong's success in recent years in part to his US Postal Service cycling team (now the Discovery Channel Team). You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins ..

Despite this relatively defensive strategy, Armstrong's mountain attacks are so forceful that he often puts minutes on his rivals over the course of just a few kilometers. During the video, the man reading the statement threatens further deaths: "We tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. In the mold of Induráin, Armstrong is not very aggressive during the most of the Tour, preferring to gain a lead in the time trials or with a few well-placed mountain attacks, before sitting back and letting his team defend the lead. Some aspects of the video may or do not support that it is al-Zarqawi ([7] (http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=2020) & [8] (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4FFA61A3-9C33-4597-A8D9-8079E91F2784.htm)). Unlike most gifted climbers, however, Armstrong is also exceptional in the individual time trial, and is as good as, if not better than, those physically more suited to the discipline, such as rival Jan Ullrich. On May 13, news outlets quoted a CIA source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, that a voice analysis of the tape has led the agency to conclude that the masked man who reads the statement and carries out the killing is "with high probability" al-Zarqawi. Much of his training is based on raising this level, and in learning exactly where the limit is. For more information on the questions being raised, see Nick Berg conspiracy theories.

The ability to maintain this high cadence for such long distances is based on his extremely high anaerobic threshold, allowing him to work at a high intensity without building up lactic acid levels that force lesser athletes to back off. Based on details seen in the video, some forensic experts ([6] (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE22Ak03.html)) believe Berg was already dead at the time of the decapitation. Armstrong can maintain incredible speeds even when going up the most daunting climbs of the Tour and at times even specialist climbers are unable to keep pace with him on a consistent basis. government. As an example, the Spanish five-time Tour de France winner, Miguel Induráin, preferred to power a huge gear at a low cadence. Questions exist regarding the circumstances of Berg's death, the authenticity of the video, and the claims made by the U.S. Pedalling very quickly (a high "cadence"), often in a lower gear than his competitors, he can maintain a cadence of 120 cycles per minute on flats during time trials, and is able to rapidly accelerate away from his main rivals who tend to use higher gears but pedal more slowly while riding uphill. A scream can be heard as men shout "Allahu Akbar" (a common Arabic expression meaning "God is greatest!").

His riding style is also distinctive. The masked men then converge on Berg and decapitate him with a knife. For example, during his preparation for the 2004 Tour, he rode virtually every stage at least once, and rode the Alpe d'Huez climb, site of a key time trial, multiple times in the course of five days. troops at Abu Ghraib prison. Lance has triumphed partly because he has made a career of the Tour de France, training in Spain for the year leading up to the Tour, and making frequent trips to France to fully analyze and ride key parts of the upcoming Tour course. The statement says that Berg's killing was in direct retaliation for the abuse of prisoners by U.S. For relaxation, Armstrong also enjoys mountain biking and trout fishing, and casual rides on his bike with his son. A lengthy statement is read aloud.

As of September 2004, Armstrong had been in a relationship with singer Sheryl Crow for about a year (source: The Tonight Show appearance September 1). The video shows Berg surrounded by five men wearing ski masks and head scarves. Armstrong and his wife Kristin (Kik - pronounced Keek) had a son shortly after his amazing comeback victory, and twin girls two years later, all by in vitro fertilization, or IVF. Armstrong and his wife divorced in 2003. I live in West Chester, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.". He won the final individual time trial (ITT), stage 19, to complete his personal-record of stage wins. I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. For the first time Armstrong also found himself unable to ride away from his rivals in the mountains (except for the individual time trial in stage 16 up L'Alpe d'Huez when he started two minutes behind Basso and passed him up) and won in sprint finishes in stages 13 and 15 versus Basso and made up a huge gap in the last 250 meters to nip Andreas Klöden at the line in stage 17. He identified himself: "My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Susan.

After that he seized the reins by outsprinting Basso to take the very next stage, and followed that up by becoming the first man since Gino Bartali in 1948 to win three consecutive mountain stages—15, 16, and 17. Berg is seen in the video wearing an orange jumpsuit. He contends he let his friend Ivan Basso win Stage 12 at the finish line as his way of offering support for Basso's mother's struggle with cancer, though video footage appears to show Armstrong being beaten fairly. See: Internet Archive (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http%3A//www.al-ansar.biz/). Postal Service "Blue Train". The video is about five minutes and thirty-two seconds long. In his most recent Tour victory (2004), Armstrong won with a personal-best 5 stages, plus the team time trial (TTT) with his U.S. Both al-Zarqawi and Muntada al-Ansar are associated with the Al-Qaida movement.

His final lead times over his closest competitor have been over six minutes every year except for 2003, when he finished 1:01 ahead of Jan Ullrich, following an unusual set of circumstances including a stomach illness at the outset of the race. On May 11, 2004, the website of the militant Islamist group Muntada al-Ansar [5] (http://www.al-ansar.biz/) allegedly broadcast a video with the opening title of "Abu Musa'b al-Zarqawi slaughters an American", which shows Berg being decapitated. Lance's true comeback came in 1999, when he won his first Tour de France. Military sources stated publicly at that time that Berg's body showed "signs of trauma", but did not disclose that he had been decapitated. He was eventually signed by the newly formed United States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team, and by 1998, he was able to make his successful return in the cycling world marked by his fourth place overall finish in the Vuelta a España. Berg's family was informed of his death on May 10. This was one of the factors which lead to his near retirement from the sport, because of which he and his then-girlfriend (now ex-wife) moved to France on two different occasions due to his changes of heart. military patrol.

While in remission he resumed training, but found himself unceremoniously, if unsurprisingly, dropped by his Cofidis team. Berg's body was found decapitated on May 8, 2004 on a Baghdad overpass by a U.S. The standard chemotherapy for his cancer would have meant the end of his cycling career, because a known side effect was a dramatic reduction in lung function; he opted for a more severe treatment that was less likely to result in lung damage. government, also hired a private investigator and contacted both their Congressional delegation and the Red Cross in search of information. Armstrong managed to recover after invasive surgery to remove brain lesions, and a severe course of chemotherapy, performed at Indiana University School of Medicine. Berg's family, frustrated with what they say was a lack of action by the U.S. After his recovery, one of his doctors told him that his actual odds of survival were considerably smaller (one even went as far as to say 3%), and that he had been given the 50 percent estimate primarily to give him hope. State Department investigator looked into Berg's disappearance, official government inquiries produced no leads.

His doctors told him that he had a fifty-percent chance of survival. Although a U.S. In October of 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had metastasized, spreading to his lungs and brain. Berg's family became concerned after not hearing from him for several days. Team Motorola was allowed to take an uncontested next stage as a mark of respect. officials on April 10 and did not return again to his hotel after that date. As a young and hugely promising cyclist this was a blow for the team, the sport, and Fabio's nation, Italy. Berg had his last contact with U.S.

During his time with Motorola, Fabio Casartelli, a teammate, died on a descent in the Tour. His family last heard from him on April 9. These early disappointments spurred him on to the great things he has achieved post-cancer, and he admits that had he given in on the devilishly difficult Clasica san Sebastian he could have retired from the sport.. Berg is said to have refused this offer and traveled to Baghdad, where he stayed at the Al Fanar Hotel. Later in 1996, however, he abandoned the Tour de France and had a disappointing Olympic Games. officials to take a flight out of Iraq, with their assistance. He won the Tour DuPont again in 1996, and was ranked number one cyclist in the world. military in Mosul.". [4] (http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1865745) According to the Associated Press, Berg was released from custody on April 6 and advised by U.S.

cycling event, the Tour DuPont, having placed second in 1994. consul stating "I have confirmed that your son, Nick, is being detained by the U.S. In that same year, he won the premier U.S. The Mosul police deny they ever arrested Berg, and Berg's family has turned over an email from the U.S. His successes continued with Team Motorola, with whom he won a stage in the 1995 Tour de France and several classic one-day events. maintains that at no time was Berg in coalition custody, but rather that he was held by Iraqi forces. Minutes later, the King invited both. The U.S.

His victory was so dominant (he had time to blow kisses to his mother in the home straight) that he was invited to an audience with the King of Norway, which he initially turned down after finding his mother was not included in the invitation. He said that he had not been mistreated during his confinement. The following year he scored his first major victory as he rode solo to win the World Road Championships in Oslo, Norway. After his parents filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia on April 5, claiming that he was being held illegally, he was released from custody. After competing as a cycling amateur, winning the US amateur championship in 1991 and finishing 14th in the 1992 Olympics road race, Armstrong turned professional in 1992. FBI agents visited his parents to confirm his identity on March 31, but he was not immediately released. He graduated from another high school in Dallas the following spring. Lance still harbors resentment toward Plano because of this and prefers his adopted home of Austin, Texas. officials and held for 13 days without access to legal counsel.

Armstrong withdrew from his high school, Plano East Senior High, with his mother's blessing and went to train with the team. His family claims he was turned over to U.S. Plano Independent School District's school board said that the six-week leave to train taken during the second semester of his senior year would bar him from graduating. Berg had intended to return to the United States on March 30, 2004, but he was detained in Mosul on March 24 by Iraqi police at a checkpoint. At 17, Lance received an invitation to train with the Junior National Cycling Team. Throughout his time in Iraq, he maintained frequent contact with his family in the United States by telephone and e-mail. It soon became clear that his greatest talent lay in racing bikes. Leaving on February 1, he returned to Iraq on March 14, 2004, only to find that the work he was promised was unavailable.

Lance began his sporting career as a triathlete, competing in seniors' competitions from the age of 16. He also went to the northern city of Mosul, visiting an Iraqi man whose brother had been married to Berg's late aunt. Armstrong received his surname at the age of three, when his mother married Terry Armstrong. He first arrived in Iraq on December 21, 2003, and made arrangements to secure contract work for his company. Armstrong was born in Plano, Texas and was raised by his mother, Linda Mooneyham, whose spirit and independence has often been cited by Armstrong as his greatest influence. He traveled to Iraq in the hope of helping to repair its damaged infrastructure.
. Berg, unlike most of his family, was a supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and of Bush administration policy.

In April 2005, Armstrong announced that he would retire from racing after the 2005 edition of the Tour. In addition, Berg set up a subsidiary of his company, Prometheus Tower Services, Inc., in Kenya [3] (http://www.macon.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/counties/chester_county/8683572.htm). He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for 2002, 2003 and 2004, received ESPN's ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete in 2003 and 2004, and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003. He once traveled to Kitende, Uganda to help a village, by among other things teaching villagers how to make Bovl Blocks, a modular concrete block Berg invented for use in tower construction where steel is not readily available or is cost-prohibitive. In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named him their Sportsman of the Year. Berg received no degrees for any of his university studies. Armstrong's achievements have been widely lauded. Also while at the University of Oklahoma, according to Nickberg.org, Berg developed a "paper brick" that was to be the precursor to his "Bovl Block" pressed construction blocks.

His success prompted some to nickname the event Tour de Lance. Berg attended four universities: Cornell, Drexel, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Oklahoma, where he was often homeless and was arrested for trespassing[2] (http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/05/19/40aaaeb82e3f9) in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. He is most famous for recovering from cancer to subsequently win the Tour de France a record six consecutive times—1999 to 2004. Police handcuffed and detained Berg during his animated explanation of the device, which police suspected of being capable of illicitly opening remotely-controlled garage doors[1] (http://middleeastinfo.org/article4561.html). Lance Armstrong (born September 18, 1971) is an American cyclist from Texas. During his attendance at this school, according to James Dao of the New York Times, Berg was involved in a minor brush with the law concerning a device Berg identified as a "truth detector". Linda Armstrong Kelly, Joni Rodgers: No Mountain High Enough : Raising Lance, Raising Me (ISBN 076791855X), Broadway Books 2005. Armstrong's mother's account of raising a world class athlete and overcoming adversity. Berg attended West Chester Henderson High School, where he received a diploma in 1996.

Stage 4 Volta ao Algrave (ITT). The act was condemned by many Muslim leaders as contrary to Islamic law and harmful to their cause. Stage 5 Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison. Tour de Georgia (2 stage victories). His killers claimed that his death was carried out to avenge abuses of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. Tour de France (5 stage victories + Team Time Trial). The decapitation, the first of a series of such killings of foreign hostages in Iraq, received worldwide attention because it was filmed, and the footage was subsequently released on the Internet, reportedly from a Malaysian homepage by the Islamic organisation al-Ansars.

Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (Overall), Stage 3 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT). Islamic militants have been accused of killing Berg. Tour de France (1 stage victory + Team Time Trial). He was captured and beheaded in May 2004. GP du Midi-Libre. Nicholas Evan Berg (April 2, 1978 – May 2004) was an American businessman seeking telecommunications work in Iraq during the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stage 6 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. http://tides.carebridge.org/Videos/Berg.wmv (8.2 MB WMV format, The Nick Berg execution is left out in this version).

Tour de France (4 stage victories). http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/decapitation_video.htm (5.4 MB WMV format). Tour de Suisse (2 stage victories). http://www.consumptionjunction.com/downloads/cj_34947.wmv (8.2 MB WMV format). Tour de France (4 stage victories). The complete video, including the beheading of Nick Berg