The Rider Suspended for Using or Possessing 10 Banned Substances Responds to USADA Sanctions
The Californian rider penalized by USADA for the usage or possession of 10 banned substances has provided a response to his sanctions.
52-year-old Vahe Aivazian was suspended for 4 years after USADA was sent an anonymous tip-off and has had all of his results stripped back to June 16 2010. While Vahe did accept his sanction from USADA, he claims he would have to have to flown to Norway to contest his case through arbitration, something that was not a possibility for him due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vahe believes that he ingested the banned substances via dietary supplements that he did not realize contained ingredients that could get him banned. He also claims he was never blood or urine tested and that he was assumed to be guilt based on the testimony of others.
The following response provided by Vahe's lawyer is posted in full below:
Statement: Vahe Aivazian
In response to the article posted on USADA and Pinkbike my client’s statement is the following;
As the article states; “he elected to sign an acceptance of sanction form the day before the arbitration hearing in his case was to begin.” The information left out is that by US Cycling rules, I had to be in person in Norway for the arbitration. With the current climate of the world Pandemic that was not an option and if I did not show up the guilty determination would stand regardless of signature or not.
The article also states; “The ten substances below, which Aivazian possessed and used and/or attempted to use,” the wording of and/or is utilized in the statement because USADA or US Cycling never provided myself or my lawyer any proof of purchasing these substances or proof of me taking any substances that are outside of my Dr. prescribed medications. I was never blood tested, urine tested or any testing whatsoever. I was assumed guilty and per US Cycling rules assumptions over proof allow for banning of riders. Which intent is very import for every rider to understand that US Cycling when racing under their rules you are admitting guilt of using substances that they prohibit from the moment you sign-up. All they need is just one person to accuse you of any action of usage of substances that fall into these guidelines as stated on the USADA Website;
“If athletes choose to use supplements despite these known risks, USADA has always recommended that athletes use only dietary supplements that have been certified by a third-party program that tests for substances prohibited in sport.
USADA currently recognizes NSF Certified for Sport® as the program best suited for athletes to reduce the risk from supplements.”
So, cyclist going to a health food store or website and searching product that do not meet the above statement are guilty under the regulations of USADA and US Cycling. From my experience of over 20 years of racing can say most of us don’t know what dietary supplements contain and are sold over the counter at any local store or website.
At the end of the day I love mountain bikes and will continue with my passion of bikes and the community it has created for my life. I immigrated to the US 40 years ago, obtained my US citizenship, own my own business, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this sport and support of all the great people that provide local racers the events listed in the article. Without those people none of this exist and USADA and US Cycling have determined with no proof to eradicate a 52 year amateur racer that has done nothing but pour support and money into the local scene to ensure young riders have a place to race. Today USADA and US Cycling showed the world they do not support the local race organizers and frankly, should check every amateur's dietary supplement and do to them what they have done to me. I know that this would be the end of racing at all ages.
We have reached out to USADA for further information.
Author Info:
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He's only now back tracking and coming up with nonsense excuses (having to go in person to Norway to defend himself seems incredibly unlikely) in order to save face.
The difference in that case the drug addict was made a saint and the other was guilty without evidence or a fair trial.
@TotalAmateur I think you're mistaking Armstrong's ability to cheat with USADA's ability to ban.
www.rootsandrain.com/rider39928/martin-maes/results
I question a lot of athletes but not Maes. Also, Maes win at La Bresse was basically a year he was on fire. It is hard to maintain that high in Enduro/EWS as it just takes one crash to shatter your confidence. 2018 will probably be the landmark year of his career. Also - steroids isn't really going to help a ton with with downhill as once you reach a certain level of strength/fitness it is mostly mental. It is actually the day-of-competition drugs (stimulants like found in cold meds and oxilofrine which Graves/Rude were busted for) that would help the most in enduro/DH as they jack your ability to concentrate and react.
He is just trying to save face publically with his statement. Yes he was not busted so if he had enough $$ like froome he could potentially go to the Court for Arbitration in Sport to contest the USADA claim, but since he signed a confession, he actually can't. It is a useful message for the public though to try to convince friends/family he was clean.
Disclosure: Ben testing positive in 88' ruined competitive sports forever for me so I've read a lot on this. Ben was setup though in 88' and if he was American there is no way the news would have ever come to light.....
It's really telling that we've got a bunch of people here defending a 52 year old PED user, while simultaneously calling in to question the reputation of a doctor, who by all accounts, was in good standing. Anti-intellectual, Joe Rogan-experience junkies seem to have flooded Pinkbike lately.
Sorry, but I don't think that after the millions of dollars he generated in revenue for various organizations like USPS, that those same organizations get to cry foul and pursue compensation of 250x of the declared fraud value. They might not have been involved in the doping, but they benefited from it and went along with the mob to the lynching.
also how cringe/nauseating is it to say "check your values" lol. My chief value is consistency, which is my entire point. If you think USADA is any sort of reliable organization, check your history lol. You obviously don't follow UFC at all or you'd know USADA is a joke.
Not sure where your weird Joe Rogan rant was going, but based on the amount of straw-manning you're doing I'd say calling anyone an 'anti-intellectual' is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.
And FYI, the word I believe you were looking for is 'unintelligent'. Anti-intellectual implies the issue is against the person rather than the argument.
Maybe what you see as the lack of consistency is actually the USADA's ability to prove doping.
Actually I was referring to a certain trial in Minnesota.
Lance was a pro doper. The tour was dominated by that in the 70’s and 80’s before testing could catch them. The 90’s on doping became a science of professional cheats. Today, I would be surprised if any of the finishers didn’t do some sort of PED’s along the way. Inhaling cocaine clears your system in 2 days. The South Americans were tops in using a chemical that was never cleared for human use, and causes cancer and other health problems in just about every user, but wasn’t on the test screening protocol. Just look at the latest drugs in trials list to see what is being used now.
hold up, my brain is thinking that snorting cocaine cleans your system in 2 days, but do you mean inhaled cocaine leaves ur system in that time?
I have no idea on #1. I think the answer is clearly no on #2.
You think it’s “ridiculous” to sanction them without a positive test?
No idea wether this individual received fair process though, which is absolutely critical before naming and shaming at any level.
On a side note, I can’t believe how much attention this got, like this is an amateur guy who may or may have not doped to win a local race. Not like there’s millions of dollars at stake here. Can’t imagine being worked up about this. Maybe since Lance hate has finally died off, USADA are looking for things to do.
There is a French enduro racer,that was caught few years ago,got suspended for 1-2 years and now he is back competing.
You never heard his name , because it was not released.(he is not an amateur like this guy)
BTW he still compete and if I'm not mistaken before covid he also won in his division.
I do think the situation is a little more nuanced than your gun example though. More like getting convicted of murder based solely on circumstantial evidence. Just because no one saw you do it, does not mean you did not do it.
It isn't really any more nuanced, that's just something you're saying so you don't have to take a stand. it's the cowards position. You are inherently afraid of being forced to defend your opinion, so you never state one. Your example is part and parcel for this type of thinking! you think it's OK to convict someone of murder with literal zero concrete evidence? purely circumstantial is enough to you? Because you're convinced they *mustof* done it? you understand that liberal western democracies have a principle that it's better to let a guilty man go, than to wrongly convict an innocent one, right??
Steroids are good for... Like, maybe if you just like the way pills look? Oh, and banned performance enhancement.
Get off that freedom BS. Racers sign up to follow a set of rules, and those rules are very well publicized.. Nobody is being put in jail, they're being told by an organization that they are no longer welcome at their events. He is still welcome at races that choose not to place themselves under the USADA's jurisdiction. Do your "liberal values" support telling races who they must allow in?
Here is my opinion since you asked for it. I don't see how he has been judged guilty with no evidence. There was a tip, there was an investigation and a determination that he doped based on the evidence collected. Specific to this case, what I don't know, and can't pass judgment on because it is not available, is what evidence USADA has and used to determine the doping. USADA believes it is enough to sanction him, but with out seeing the full details I can't say if his conviction is fair or not.
A positive test is only one form of evidence. I have no problem with someone getting punished for doping if the alternative evidence supports it.
My opinion on this case is the guy doped, but not because USADA says so, but because of his statement, in which he does not proclaim to be innocent and he alludes to not knowing the substances were in his supplements.
Even if he’s guilty, if you are usually allowed to contest, then why wouldn’t they give him a temp ban until he can have a formal meeting in person whenever borders are back open?
You’re saying obvious shit, but I’m not sure that you know it was even offered/possible.
I don’t care one way or another personally
Or it could be he’s the dope dealer to younger pros. I don’t know. I do know this. It seems like whenever these athletes get caught, it’s always a contaminated substance that they didn’t know was contaminated.
Yeahhhh I'm still leaning towards he's a rich douche. Chill riders don't say stupid things like how much money they spend. That's what entitled people do when they experience a rare situation when things don't go their way.
"WELL IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE CARE OF ME, I'LL JUST BRING MY MONEY ELSEWHERE AND YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET IT BECAUSE I HAVE SO MUCH OF IT!"
That's a lot of drugs.
"THATS A LOT OF DRUGS!"
(Time for me to get downvoted)
1. Truth - The guy got reported to USAC for violations.
2, Truth - He DID sign the acceptance of punishment
3. Truth - He did NOT have to sign off as accepting punishment but he did
4. Pinkbike did publish image of a needle implying he was directly injecting & caught
Now...the WTF stuff:
1. WTF - Norway for USADA?
2. WTF - An attorney whose dictation is from Siri ?
3. WTF - Norway???? Norway.
Why he proposes that he can fly to Norway to contest a racing suspension during a global pandemic is ridiculous. Besides, what's stopping him from using Zoom or the 20 other online meeting apps to accomplish the same goal?
It's like the lawyer wants to allude to this overseeing international body in Norway because he knows if he wrote Switzerland and this went public everyone in sports industry would laugh because there actually is not recourse to CAS and there could be malpractice issues or something.
Besides, we have great trails here. And brown cheese.
I'm googling it now.
...."A few other blogs I've read describe the taste as “salty goat's fudge” "
I guess there’s a chance he has been seeing a ‘rejuvenation/youthfulness’ doctor but they often prescribed large amounts of testosterone, anabolic steroids, Growth Hormone, etc which still doesn’t allow them to be used in sport.
Lots of athletes visit this clinics as it’s a legit (if expensive) way of legally getting the drugs you want.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBA0AH-LSbo
Here is a research article by FIFA (football association) on Nandrolone. This is a direct quote from the article in the section Nandrolone in nutritional supplements (Page 2).
"Laboratories investigated the actual composition of supplements available on the internet, in shops, or in fitness clubs, and found both hormonal and non-hormonal dietary supplements are mislabeled and may contain anabolic-androgenic steroids or prohormones. The information about ingredients is generally suppressed in order to deceive sportsmen. "
img.fifa.com/image/upload/ho81xudgsogjyqqgws6u.pdf
Lots of young people use them. Testosterone, steroids, HGH and EPO for the right price. All legit and above board pharmaceutical grade drugs complete with a real prescription from a real doctor.
2: BCAA's ingested during a ride/before bed
3: Electrolytes consumed during ride
4: Foam rolling/stretching
5: Training in the gym like an animal.
6. Getting 8+ hours of sleep
Also, skip the post-ride beers.
For me, it got to the point where I would have a beer after every ride last summer, and when you're riding 6 days a week, that's a lot of beer that can hamper recovery and growth.
His response was more of the line, couldn't go to Norway so took the deal. Does he actually say he did not take any banned substances?
Also, did he refuse to pee in a cup/blood test? Or were they never offered. If he refused then he is kinda in the same position as a drunk driver who refuses to blow and get licence suspended anyway. then later says he was not guilty.
Meth and heroin dealers get less press than this guy.
Amateurs don't stand to actually win anything of value when they race. If they break the rules, the consequences of their cheating should be proportionate to what they stood to gain in the race (i.e. very little).
The consequences should be proportionate to the violation. In this case, they're not. A ban from racing is proportionate. Rescinding his past results is proportionate. Publishing a press release that hundreds of thousands of people will see that gives his name and labels him as a doper is not proportionate for some random amateur racer.
My thought is why should it make a difference Pro vs. amateur?
Also, is the issue Pinkers/the internet or the publishing of the name.
I would tend to side with the problem is actually the general public/pinkers/internet, most comments would not happen if they had to say it to their face.
None of that really applies to amateurs. When some masters class amateur racer dopes, the only people who care as the gossipy people like us in internet comment sections. There are no real consequences outside of maybe some slightly skewed results in a couple of races that don't matter. The consequences for his doping should follow accordingly. Ban him and rescind his results. But publicly naming him accomplishes nothing that a press release that didn't include his name wouldn't also accomplish.
I just said why this isn't true. Amateurs turn into pros. If they did not look for doping because it "doesn't really matter" an doping amateur could very likely be taking away pro level opportunities from a clean amateur.
And I'm not in any way arguing that amateurs should be allowed to dope. I'm just saying that doping amateurs shouldn't be publicly shamed. They should be banned from racing, but not outed on pinkbike. Mistakes they make in their recreational activities shouldn't have drastic effects on their completely unrelated professional life.
Clearly there's a huge negative impact on his reputation from being publicly named. So what benefit was achieved for that cost?
If you're willing to let a private company do that, I'd hate to see what you're willing to let the actual government get away with.
So to answer your question the courts would be the checks and balances for this.
What is the difference between this and publicly dismissing an employee for alleged sexual misconduct.
You have something down there called freedom of speech as well that adds to the equation.
What about news reporters, what if his name was not made public, but the records were searchable. that news reporter finds the name of this amateur(because he is always looking for Pros who get suspended) and publishes his name. What is the difference between the association doing it and the news reporter? Same end result.
As an amateur he did not have to race. It was not his job.
All I'm saying is, this guy's life is effectively ruined. Everyone knows who he is, and everyone thinks he shot up a bunch of terrible drugs (even though all of the drugs he supposedly took are legal). That's a pretty harsh punishment for some random guy who raced bikes recreationally.
Does he deserve to get penalized for doping? If he actually did it, yes. Does the punishment here fit the crime? Not at all.
Who is at fault for the public backlash the media or the public.
I'm sorry but you see on a regular basis the pinkers rip apart a company or a product here. I think the problem is society itself, not the making public a cheaters name. I blame the anonymous nature of the internet not those who released the name. that is the real problem.
When there's a news story about some guy who's in prison for 20 years because he was caught with $10 worth of weed, you're making the exact same argument as the people who say "well he shouldn't have smoked weed - it's illegal."
But more importantly, all this doping stuff is the first thing that pops up when you Google the guy's name. And it'll almost certainly be that way forever.
Compare that to the French (pro) racer that someone mentioned elsewhere in the comments. Caught doping. Banned. Not publicly named. The guy served out his ban and can now go about his life.
How do people who need to know, find out an amateur has been caught doping.
Race organizers, sponsors, accounting school, law school, medical school etc...
If I go to a race and cut the course, that's also against the rules of racing. I cheated, even though I haven't broken any laws. Are you concerned that my employer won't know about that?
I wore my shoes inside the house yesterday. That's against my wife's rules of the house. Do you have any advice on how we can broadly disseminate the details of my transgression so that anyone I might ever associate with can easily find out that I broke rules set by someone that has only has rule making authority by virtue of a private contract?
Many other organizations have rules of conduct for their members. I am a Canadian CPA, if I am convicted of a crime, even though it was not financial I am at risk of having my designation stripped. I can get my designation stripped for things as well that are not illegal, but detrimental to my organization. I would lose my job etc...
So how do we let the people know who need it, while not letting the general public roast them, I dont know.
As far as how to let the appropriate people know? Simple: you ban him from racing. Take away his racing license. Race organizers know that he isn't allowed to race because he doesn't have a license. If he can't race, he's not gonna get any sponsors.
Done. No public shaming needed, because no one other than race organizers and (maybe) sponsors need to know about this.
Without publishing the name how would the police know who did it?
In addition, what if there are alternate race organizations? How would they find out? I know in my younger days there wasn't just Cycling BC(UCI affiliate).
The public shaming is actually the public and media. It is not like they took an add out on Pinkbike and said shame. It was pinkbike and the pinkers who did the shaming. It is a problem with our society that has come about since the internet. How do you fix that?
It was the media and public who shamed him.
If there are alternate race organizations, they're more than welcome to privately share information with each other. They can recognize another organization's ban. The sharing of that information doesn't need to be publicly disseminated though. Because like I've said, there's very little need for the public to know this information (at least with respect to amateur racers), and there's a substantial negative consequence to releasing it.
The only benefit to releasing the information publicly is that pinkbike gets a lot of page views from people who like to gossip about this stuff, and everyone in the comment section gets to feel morally superior because they didn't take any banned substances, unlike this horrible, horrible person that totally deserves to have his name dragged through the mud because he entered a race while trying to get swole, which is totally against the rules, and he should have known that because of the fine print.
It is the public that crucified them.
I feel like you have a problem with what the public is doing with the information but not with the actual publishing the name.
And while it doesn't really matter in this context, the police would only make his name publicly searchable if he was charged with an offense. Which generally means they have actual evidence that he committed an actual crime.
The guy's response is sort of all over the place. It starts off as "no one tested me, and there's no proof that i did anything prohibited",he really should have stopped at that point. Because that's the main point, right?
Adding in the "well you know... no one REALLY knows what's in the supplements, i'm just taking them because i think they help me" makes it sound like he's trying to push an excuse.
It is highly unlikely a court would uphold and out of country arbitration clause between a US Corporation and US resident for acts that occurred in the US. It stinks of forum shopping to prevent a full and fair hearing.
The fact that his “attorney” seems to have no name only makes it more suspect.
I guess I'm not sure how this would have worked out had they actually gone to arbitration. Might he have been able to use the defense that they didn't actually test him? He opted not to go, however, claiming it would have taken place in Norway, in person - which is the biggest WTF, and red flag in his argument. Literally every proceeding of this type is allowing video conference attendance.
www.lawinsport.com/topics/news/item/u-s-cycling-athlete-vahe-aivazian-accepts-sanction-for-anti-doping-rule-violation
Not a fan of USAC, but there is a lot of information and transparency missing on both sides.
www.usada.org/athletes/results/arbitration-decisions clearly states that arbitrations on violations on anti-doping rules are heard before the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). CAS is in Switzerland and is the appeals court for anti-doping. Which means the first arbitration would be before the American Arbitration Association. Of course, there might be a branch of the AAA in Norway, but I highly doubt it.
Go to Norway OR Zoom was much more likely
Doesn't the FDA require ingredient lists on supplements?
- “Never tested positive” (because I signed a confession so there was no point)
- A general screed against usada designed to turn the reader against them in hopes you will by default support him
- No details of what happened or how he came to be accused of such extensive cheating
My favorite is the vague supplement excuse without recognizing that 1. That excuse is almost always used to explain a positive test, which he emphatically denies happened.
2. These “supplements” would have to be widely known or obviously labeled to contain banned substances for the witnesses to recognize and report the doping. This was no accident- at best it would be gross negligence.
I don’t know if dude ever took a banned substance intentionally or unintentionally. But he is regurgitating textbook examples of what guilty dopers say when their backs are against the wall, and he doesn’t even understand how those BS excuses are supposed to work.
ufc.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/UFC-Arbitration-Graphic_EN.pdf
You will see that this is the firm that does arbitration for USADA.
www.mclarenglobalsportsolutions.com/arbitrators.php
They literally only have Canadian and US offices. I don't know how Norway has anything to do with this.
Maybe I'm been "lanced" from too much Lance Armstrong controversy. These athletes seem to think the public has never heard others lying about sport doping.
I don’t know anything about this stuff, but you seem to have your mind made up when the article was pretty ambiguous....help me.
I bet you were in the comments when Richie Rude got caught too, probably asking "This guy couldn't be bothered to chemically analyze the workout supplements he was taking?" People make mistakes and it's awful mighty of you to be handing out such hot-take judgement
Go be stupid somewhere else "like a man"
"The name of the supplement?..Mega-nut-bust-3000-extreme. it's full of vitamins"
"As the article states; “he elected to sign an acceptance of sanction form the day before the arbitration hearing in his case was to begin.” The information left out is that by US Cycling rules, I had to be in person in Norway for the arbitration. "
"USADA or US Cycling never provided myself or my lawyer any proof of purchasing these substances or proof of me taking any substances that are outside of my Dr. prescribed medications. I was never blood tested, urine tested or any testing whatsoever. I was assumed guilty and per US Cycling rules assumptions over proof allow for banning of riders."
I don’t see where you allow that proof of purchase would matter to those other sports.
A positive blood or urine test with positive banned substances traced to his supplements that were traced to his purchases would be my definition of irrefutable evidence. A negative blood or urine test affords an athlete a small window of innocence, and perhaps a reduced sentence. Acceptance of a ban to me is an acceptance of guilt.
I'm not defending him, I'm simply trying to understand and speculate on the truth- there is a lot that is unknown which is why I wrote that something is off- from both sides.
If you consider it pontification then so be it, but I’m not the one waxing eloquent about my personal opinion that’s totally irrelevant to the topic at hand. Nor am I the one who made a statement I’m not willing to defend.
We're in the "Court of public opinion," so I'm saying: he doped. Why? Not b/c he signed the waiver. But b/c that list of substances and his response. I'm not some anti-doping zealot...had he had a (as in ONE) substance, I'd go with it...but TEN. I just want him punished for that stupid letter. What is it: better to remain silent and thought a cheat...or something like that.
Please Pinkbike, be respectful of your audience and remove this guy name. You are condemning him to eternal shame.. Do you think you are so much better than him.
But the in-person thing is what stands out the most to me. I know these bodies tend to be inflexible, but I struggle to think how they could uphold a "must be in person" rule during a global pandemic with travel restrictions in place. Just seems odd. Doesn't sound like this guy got legal advice, or if he did it best have been pro bono because it wasn't worth much.
So this guy is implying that the certification system failed to catch 10 different products and it was bad luck he happened to use them. Got it.
If testosterone is prescribed and managed by a doctor for treatment of LowT (or other legitimate disorders), is it considered illegal by the USADA?
Do it quick, before COVID’s over for the rest of us!
U can always launch your own race series without any drug testing in caae you are so competitive and being banned
"Spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this sport and support of all the great people that provide local racers the events listed in the article. Without those people none of this exist and USADA and US Cycling have determined with no proof to eradicate a 52 year amateur racer that has done nothing but pour support and money into the local scene to ensure young riders have a place to race."
At the end of the day if us old guys aren't out there racing and spending money on it with the young guns, most of the local racing events won't happen. He didn't make any money off racing, so who cares what he was taking.
More haste less speed.
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
***Ràndy Marsh voice***
OH IM SORRY I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA!
Let Vahe (sp?) Ride!!!