Travis Tygart, the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, told a French sports daily that he tightened security at his organization after receiving several death threats during his investigation of Lance Armstrong.
In August, Armstrong dropped any further challenges to USADA’s allegations that he took performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France from 1999-2005. A day later, USADA stripped Armstrong of his Tour titles and banned him for life. Armstrong, who has always denied doping and points to hundreds of clean tests, has claimed Tygart has a vendetta against him.
“I accept being accused, mistreated. That’s me, the public face of USADA. Am I a target? I won’t shirk my responsibility,” Tygart said. “The most important thing is to protect my team. And to maintain the respect of the athletes who don’t cheat.”
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