Lance Armstrong: Roberts and Epstein Article: Nothing New

Sports Illustrated has a new article which deals with the never ending Lance Armstrong investigation. There was also an interview of Selena Roberts on All Things Considered.

Reading through the Sports Illustrated article was disappointing, old rehashed accusations, innuendo, nothing of interest except Don Catlin. Good old boy Don Catlin, pioneer, anti doping crusader, expert in detection of doping, accused of cooking the books for Lance Armstrong? Indeed?

There were some old [Lance Armstrong] records of testosterone/epitestosterone ratios above 6:1 that David Epstein and Selena Roberts declare "a positive?" Not so. Testosterone/Epitestosterone ratios are not "positive" tests, they merely suggest suspicious values that should be investigated further: for possible abuse of synthetic testosterone, precursors of testosterone, analogues of testosterone, etc. Before the development of mass spectrometry (MS), a test developed by Don Catlin, suspicious testosterone/epitestosterone values were verified with longitudinal studies. The notion that an athlete could maintain a constant rate of high testosterone/epitestosterone over time by artificial means was considered very improbable. If it was determined over time that the testosterone/epitestosterone value declined to a baseline value and remained constant; say 1:1 only then could the measured "peak" above 6:1 be considered an analytical positive. Later, of course, high testosterone/epitestosterone levels could be examined by carbon isotope ratios to determine if a Carbon 13 synthetic testosterone supplement was present; a clear violation of the WADA prohibited substance rule. In this case, the presence of the synthetic testosterone; constitutes the violation; the testosterone/epitestosterone level merely supplements the violation with additional evidence; additive but not essential to confirm an adverse analytical finding. Later WADA changed the normal testosterone/epitestosterone range to 4:1. Nevertheless, the statement made by Selena Roberts and David Epstein that the old "high [Lance Armstrong] ratios had not lead to sanctions," is misleading, for the above mentioned reasons and should be discarded as sheer nonsense.

One other thing should be mentioned. In the Floyd Landis case, a notorious example of incompetence of testosterone/epitestosterone testing occurred, a single urine sample returned four different results! This wanton disregard by a WADA accredited laboratory proves that confirmation by carbon isotope ratio tests are absolutely essential. Since the old Lance Armstrong testosterone/epitestosterone tests have no longitudinal or carbon isotope ratio confirmations they are essentially useless as evidence. There is an option of opening the urine sample safe, extracting the frozen urine sample, and doing the carbon isotope tests post facto. If the old urine samples do not exist: nothing can be proven!

What is not nonsense is the fact that Don Catlin tried to cover up positive drug tests of Olympic athletes, according to old witness testimony. If true, this could prove to be very problematic for Don Catlin! If a lie, this could prove very problematic for his accusers! Floyd Landis's opinion that Lance Armstrong was Don Catlin's favorite athlete and that this suggests a motive for cover up is insane babble by Landis; his favorite occupation of late; and proves nothing! It also should be noted that Floyd Landis had an insane hatred of Don Catlin, because Catlin refused to bend from his opinion that Landis had used performance enhancing drugs! Foo! What nonsense!

Last point: investigators found e-mail messages from team Radio Shack to "Doctor Blood" Michele Farrari, dated in 2009. Lance Armstrong employed Michele Farrari as a consultant, but, claimed to have severed all ties in 2004? Doctor Blood claimed that rEPO used properly was as dangerous as drinking orange juice? Very interesting. However, even if Radio Shack did have contacts with Michele Farrari in 2009 this does not prove that Lance Armstrong had any contact.

So nothing new. No bombshells. Nothing of importance here that would be of concern to Lance Armstrong. A dud. No new evidence of prohibited substance use. Yawn. A bore.