Up for auction a RARE! "Lance Armstrong's Doping" Travis Tygart Hand Written Letter on 5X7 Card. This item is authenticated
By Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.
ES-5602
Travis
Thompson Tygart (born
1971) is an American lawyer and CEO of the United States Anti-Doping
Agency (USADA). He is best known for his role in exposing Lance
Armstrong's massive doping operation.
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, he
attended the Bolles School, He starred on the baseball and basketball
teams; on the former, one of his teammates was future Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill with a bachelor's degree in philosophy, and in 2010
received the University's Distinguished Young Alumni Award. Tygart went on
to get his J.D. from Southern Methodist
University in 1999, graduating Order of the Coif. Prior to
joining USADA, Tygart was an athlete and associate in the sports law practice
at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (HRO). While at HRO, Tygart worked with
individual athletes and the United States Olympic
Committee, USA Basketball, USA Swimming, USA Volleyball, and
the Pro Rodeo Cowboys' Association. Tygart is on the board of
advisors of the Taylor Hooton Foundation. Tygart became Chief Executive Officer
of USADA in September 2007. He originally joined the agency in October
2002 as director of legal affairs, later becoming senior managing director and
general counsel. He has also prosecuted cases before the American Arbitration
Association and the Court of Arbitration for
Sport on behalf of USADA. Tygart had harbored suspicions about
Armstrong for most of his tenure at USADA. A number of former members of
Armstrong's U.S. Postal
Service Pro Cycling Team had been caught doping. Having learned
about the doping that then ran rampant in the sport, Tygart found it hard to
believe that Armstrong was clean. In
June 2012, USADA accused Armstrong of doping, a charge that Armstrong ceased
trying to defend in August 2012. As a result, he was stripped of all results
from August 1, 1998 onward–including his seven consecutive Tour titles–and
banned for life from all sports whose federations followed the World
Anti-Doping Code. The latter sanction had the effect of ending his competitive
career. Armstrong filed a suit in U.S. District Court against Tygart and USADA.
When dismissing the lawsuit against 'Defendant Travis Tygart and United States
Anti-Doping Agency (collectively, "USADA")', U.S. District Judge Sam
Sparks wrote, "USADA's conduct raises serious questions about whether its
real interest in charging Armstrong is to combat doping, or if it is acting
according to less noble motives." Tygart was previously involved in the
investigation of Floyd Landis. Tygart
stated in an interview with French newspaper L'Équipe that he had received three death threats
since the beginning of the Armstrong investigation and that security had been
tightened around him by the FBI. After USADA announced that it would
strip Armstrong of all his results obtained after August 1, 1998, Tygart stated
in an interview with VeloNation: "He [Armstrong] knows all the
evidence as well and he knows the truth, and so the smarter move on his part is
to attempt to hide behind baseless accusations of process." In July 2018,
Tygart testified before the U.S. Helsinki Commission in Washington, DC on the subject
of doping in sports. He was on a panel alongside Jim Walden, the attorney
for Russian Whistle-blower Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, Yuliya Stepanova, a former Russian track star, and Katie Uhlaender, a four-time member of the U.S. Skeleton team.
Tygart submitted eight pages of testimony and told the Commission he would continue
attempting to persuade Congress to address international doping.