Lance Armstrong 2014: More People Banned from Sports for Doping Involvement

After revelations of drug use by Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong surfaced in 2013, more people have been penalized. On April 22, 2014, Armstrong's coach Johan Bruyneel, was banned for 10 years for contributing to massive doping activities on teams where Armstrong was the leader. 

Armstrong himself was banned from cycling in 2012 after the American Arbitration Association panel found that the famous cyclist won the Tour de France consecutively with the aid of performance-boosting drugs, according to CBS.

In a related report by the Daily Mail, Bruyneel said that he, together with Armstrong and the rest of their staff turned out to be scapegoats during a period when doping was practiced by virtually everyone else in professional cycling.

He said, "I do not dispute that there are certain elements of my career that I wish had been different. However, a very small minority of us has been used as scapegoats for an entire generation."

Bruyneel further shared that he might appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, after questioning whether USADA can prosecute him since he is a Belgian national.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) made the announcement to ban Bruyneel, saying that the former coach was a main contributor in rampant doping on the Armstrong-led teams like U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel. The verdict contained evidence composed of hundreds of pages. 17 witnesses also testified against Bruyneel, saying that he encouraged, organized and assisted riders in using banned substances. The USPS team conducted the most successful and sophisticated doping program that the sport has ever encountered.

The Guardian wrote that other individuals who were implicated in the doping scandal include Dr. Pedro Celaya and Jose Marti who were both banned for eight years, for being "instruments" of the controversy. Aside from a lifetime ban in cycling, Armstrong was further stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.