Death threats for man in charge of Armstrong doping investigation
Man in charge of probe into Lance Armstrong scandal told he would get 'bullet to the head'
Travis Tygart says he spent years probing the biggest doping scheme in sports history, and received death threats, including one chilling warning that he would get a bullet to his head.
In an interview on 60 Minutes Sports, Tygart, the head of the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada), described the sophistication of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, which included the use of untraceable mobile phones, makeup to hide needle marks and an offer of a US$250,000 donation from one of Armstrong's representatives to Usada in 2004.
An investigation into the scheme resulted in the disgraced Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport of cycling for life.
Tygart said Armstrong had been tipped off by the director of the Swiss drug testing laboratory, Martial Saugy, about how to beat the erythropoietin (EPO) test in 2002 after one of Armstrong's samples from the 2001 Tour of Switzerland was described as "suspicious".
"[Saugy] sat down next to me and said, 'Travis, in fact, there were samples from Lance Armstrong that indicated EPO use'," Tygart said. "As far as we are aware, [it is] totally inappropriate to bring in an athlete who had a suspicious test and explain to them how the test works."
Tygart said six of Armstrong's samples taken during his first Tour de France win in 1999 were originally reported as negative but they were re-tested in 2005. "All six were flaming positive," he said.