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"Lance Armstrong's ban from cycling for doping may have hurt his credibility with some \u2014 but it's proved a major financial performance enhancer for his Livestrong foundation, according to a tweet he sent his 3.7 million Twitter followers Friday afternoon. \nOn Thursday night, the seven-time Tour de France winner announced he would end his years-long resistance against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's accusations. He admitted no wrongdoing, however, saying in an online statement that \"I am finished with this nonsense.\" \nOn Friday morning, the USADA's hammer fell. The agency smacked him with a lifetime ban from the sport in which he is \u2014 or was \u2014 a legend, and essentially deleted 14 years of his career. The USADA said it expects the International Cycling Union, the sport's governing body, to do the same, but the ICU didn't make any bold claims Friday. \nThursday night's news sent Internet users into a state of shock, and many used Facebook and Twitter to rally to Armstrong's defense. The USADA and director Travis Tygart trended on Twitter and Armstrong's statement racked up more than 4,000 Likes within half an hour of being posted on Facebook. \nThe apparent end to Armstrong's extended saga with the USADA over charges of using performance enhancing drugs has come with a silver lining, though. Here's the tweet Armstrong posted Friday afternoon: \n\nThanks to all the amazing @livestrong supporters worldwide. Donations today were UP25x over yesterdays. Thank you thank you thank you!\n\u2014 Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) August 24, 2012\n\nArmstrong founded Livestrong in 1997. It's stated mission is to \"inspire and empower\" people affected by cancer. Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996, but he overcame the disease to win cycling's biggest race seven years in a row. \nThose wins may all now be vacated, but Armstrong is far from his sport's only star whose reputation has been tainted by doping charges. This excellent New York Times graphic shows just how widespread the problem has been since 1998. \nDoes the USADA's ban and Armstrong's decision to quit fighting charges make him a disgrace \u2014 or do his achievements still outweigh everything else? Give us your take in the comments.  Thumbnail image courtesy Flickr, PoweriPics\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/08/24/lance-armstrong-livestrong-donations/>