Elizabeth Kreutz/Reuters
Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles as part of the fallout from Usada's doping case.
Every day until Dec. 31, reporters and editors from The New York Times will recall the people, teams and moments that made the last year memorable, and in some cases look ahead to 2013.
* * *
A Free Fall That Has Yet to Reach Rock Bottom
By Juliet Macur
This year began so well for Lance Armstrong.
A month into 2012, after nearly two years of his wondering and worrying, federal prosecutors said they were no longer investigating Armstrong for possible doping-related crimes, including fraud, money laundering and drug trafficking. The United States attorney leading the inquiry had dismissed the case.
For Armstrong, a weight had been lifted.
"It is the right decision, and I commend them for reaching it," he said in a statement that day, Feb. 3. "I look forward to continuing my life as a father, a competitor, and an advocate in the fight against cancer without this distraction."
But in fact, his year was not on an upswing. Quite the opposite. Armstrong was about to have one of the most precipitous, unceremonious downfalls in the history of sports.
By the end of October, he was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles and was barred for life from competing in Olympic sports. His sponsors, even the longtime supporters Nike and Oakley, abandoned him. He closed out 2012 pegged as a liar and a cheat who had to step down from his own cancer charity, Livestrong, to keep it from drowning alongside him.
All that misfortune came at the hands of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which did not back down from its fight with Armstrong, even when the federal criminal investigation fell apart.
In June, the agency announced that it had opened a doping case against Armstrong, who later chose not to fight the charges. But it was too late for him to save his reputation as a cancer-surviving hero to millions.
By mid-October, the agency had made public a 202-page report that said Armstrong was at the heart of the most sophisticated, well-organized doping program in sports. In that report, 11 of his former teammates said they had doped and that doping on Armstrong's teams was widespread and expected if riders wanted to succeed at the sport's highest level.
Riders who had been Armstrong's closest friends and confidants had pointed their fingers at him. And while his lawyers called the report "a one-sided hatchet job," Armstrong did something many did not expect: he did not fight back.
Within weeks, he retreated from his hometown, Austin, Tex., to Hawaii, away from the stares and the vocal criticisms. There, he rode out the initial tumult.
Now back in Austin, Armstrong awaits a new year. It could not be worse than the last. Yet it is likely to be rocky.
The Department of Justice is still considering joining a federal whistle-blower case filed by Floyd Landis, one of Armstrong's former teammates. Landis has claimed Armstrong and management of the United States Postal Service team defrauded the government by using taxpayer dollars to finance the squad's doping program.
Also, a Dallas-based insurance company that awarded Armstrong bonuses for winning several Tours is looking for its money back. Armstrong owes it at least $7.5 million, a lawyer for the company said.
What Armstrong, a father of five, will do next is anybody's guess. One thing that is not likely on his to-do list to ring in the new year: celebrate his good fortune.
* * *
For U.S. Track Team, Strides in Right Direction
By Tom Connelly
You know your sport is in ratings trouble when the stunning performances of your current Olympians in London finish a distant second to the extracurricular exploits of a stunning former Olympian in Las Vegas. Or when its most recognizable face belongs not to the chiseled Mr. Bolt but to the whittled Mr. Kardashian.
Or maybe not.
For failures organic and self-inflicted, track and field in the United States long ago ceded the first tier of the sporting hierarchy to the broadcast friendly Big Three. It now ricochets like a wayward atom in the vast chasm between the poles of women's gymnastics and curling. Its popularity is roughly equivalent to that of domestic soccer, which bid farewell to Beckham this year and awaits Messi in 2025, and the dysfunction that is professional boxing, which will never again care about universal popularity as long as there is a pay-per-view cash cow to milk.
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