Landis Statement from Press Conference

Below is the official text of the Landis statement from the May 10 press conference, reformatted.

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Floyd Landis Remarks - May 10, 2007 News Conference

Los Angeles, May 11, 2007 – I look forward to next week’s hearings. They will be the first opportunity for me to present the full and overwhelming evidence that I won the 2006 Tour de France fair and square. I want to encourage everyone with an interest in sports to follow their progress.

From the very beginning, it has been evident that the WADA/USADA system is set up in a way that it is impossible for an athlete to get a fair hearing. Because of this, there is more importance to these proceedings than a chance to begin the right a wrong being done to me. They represent an important test to see if the anti-doping system can begin to change for the good of sport and the sake of justice and fairness.

We have asked for my hearings to be public because I have nothing to hide and because common sense, facts and science overwhelmingly demonstrate the fact that I didn’t dope at the Tour. Our entire Wiki defense has been based on the same idea. Through our efforts, many more people are now aware that an anti-doping system that should be a force for good and for positive change is in fact incompetent, corrupt and damaging to athletes and all those who should be inspired by sports. Hopefully this hearing will be the first time that the burden of proof is shifted from the athletes themselves back to the lab and to the WADA/USADA system so that they can explain the flaws in scientific process, analysis and outcome.

Along with their public demonstrations of unethical conduct – including trying to convict me in the media before letting me know anything about the charges against me – USADA let me know privately very early on that this was not a search for the truth, but an unchecked prosecution. It was offered to me at the beginning of this process that if I give up information on a cyclist more important than Me – and I can only infer that would be Lance Armstrong – that I would receive the shortest suspension ever given to an athlete. I find this offensive and wrong on many levels, especially given that I didn’t do what they’ve accused me of doing. There is something behind this over and above trying to enforce ethics in sports.

I couldn’t fight this fight without the support of my friends and fans. Many fans have been asking how I am and how I’ve been dealing with all of this. Obviously this has been painful and difficult for me, and especially my family, and I look forward to some kind of conclusion. Whatever the outcome, though, I’m proud of what I did. I go into these hearings feeling like a winner because I know I won the Tour clean, and one way or another will continue making progress in my fight for justice, no matter how long it takes. I look back at the 10 months since we began my public defense and see the actions of the LNDD, WADA, USADA and the panel’s rulings to date consistently confirming every single key point we have been making since launching our Wiki defense.

1. The LNDD is corrupt and incompetent


2. The WADA/USADA system is an insult to the principles of democratic justice and operates without any oversight whatsoever, and


3. An accused athlete has very little chance of a fair defense.

Thanks to the public nature of these hearings, the sports world will be watching, the taxpayers and legislators that fund USADA will be watching, and the Panel’s colleagues in the legal and arbitration profession will be looking to see their commitment to handing down a fair decision based on the facts and on the science as provided by both sides, all of which demonstrates that I won the Tour fairly. In doing so, they will make a decision that stands the test of time and history by helping change the system for the good of all athletes who have to go through this in the future.