I won’t get into the reasons why I missed seeing Oprah’s first part of her exclusive interview with Lance Armstrong last night. From what I can see… Lance came clean about everything, sort of. He nitpicked some of the details – like, he said he didn’t make his teammates dope (“I didn’t invent the culture, but I didn’t try to stop the culture”) – but Lance admitted to a slew of charges that have been leveled at him for years. He admitted to taking banned substances since the mid-1990s, he admitted to taking testosterone, EPO, human growth hormone. The scariest part is Oprah asked him a series of questions about whether he thought he was wrong to dope (at the time) and he said “No.” When she asked if he felt like he was cheating, he said “No … I viewed it as a level playing field.” Here are some video segments, but if you want to watch the actual OWN videos, go here.
When asked about all of the times he blatantly lied and sued the hell out of people who told the truth about him, Lance said: “I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times… I know the truth. The truth isn’t what was out there. The truth isn’t what I said. I’m a flawed character, as I well know… All the fault and all the blame here falls on me.” Lance also said he stopped doping in 2005 and that he competed in the Tours de France in 2009 & 2010 clean – convenient because 2005 was the cut-off point for possible perjury charges against Lance, although I think a clever prosecutor would be able to make a good case for “conspiracy to commit perjury” and “conspiracy to commit fraud” which might have a longer statute of limitations.
As for WHY Lance lied so much and so often, for years and years, Lance said: “It just gets going and I lost myself in all that.” He called it his “flaw.” He’s such an a—hole.
USADA chief Travis Tygart released a statement after the interview aired – “Tonight, Lance Armstrong finally acknowledged that his cycling career was built on a powerful combination of doping and deceit…. His admission that he doped throughout his career is a small step in the right direction. But if he is sincere in his desire to correct his past mistakes, he will testify under oath about the full extent of his doping activities.”
Go here to see one the coldest parts of the interview, in my opinion – Lance chuckling about how many people he sued when they told the truth about him.
Photos courtesy of WENN, screencaps.
Asshole. Still and always.
Still won’t tell the truth and admit to the BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS though. !!!!
Probably thinks the average American, he is trying to illicit sympathy from, won’t understand.
F**king liar.
He did admit to blood transfusions in his interview
“Flawed” my ass. You’re right, Christine. Still just an asshole, always and forever. F*ck off Lance. Go away now. You know he’s writing one more book to dine off the bones of this story.
Words can’t express my disgust at this pathetic excuse for an athlete. All the fans, adoration and respect was built on a carefully calculated and executed set of lies. He seriously thought he’d never get caught and used his legal team to bluff those who suggested otherwise.
I’m Australian and none of the media or commentators here are on his side. They’re all calling him out for this PR sham “interview” with Oprah noting that he’s not remorseful at all. He’s had his Sydney 2000 Olympic medal taken off him too.
A friend of mine is a competitive cyclist and has always said it is physically impossible for someone to win Le Tour 7 times.
PS Oprah comes off badly over this too. There are tons of questions which should have been put to him or phrased in different way. She shouldn’t have accepted his “yes/no” answers. She had a stellar opportunity and she blew it by letting him get away with it.
I watched this interview and my husband had to tell me to “pipe down in the cheap seats” just so I wouldn’t make exhasperated comments about what a douchebag Lance Armstrong is!
It was PAINFUL to watch. He squirmed and he lied, and everytime he lied during this interview his eyes got all beady and he rubbed his lips…watch it, you can see how he is only telling some truth and the rest is all BS. He probably doped in 2009 and 2010 too, but because he was fukkin over the hill by then it has to be explained as a “clean” reason for losing.
Idiot. He is the worst kind. Bully, liar, manipulator, cheat…and I can’t see how he could ever walk down the street without someone wishing to spit in his face. *SMH*
All those LA supporters are now seeing what fools they were and now they are all “But he won, the race of life! The fight against cancer!” etc…but so many others do, in our lives and around us, you don’t see them milking it for millions and suing others to keep their millions! He has ruined so many other peoples careers and lives, now its his turn.
I think you expressed everything in a nutshell. Thanks!
Exactly. I was one of those supporters. What an idiot I was! You are completely right about him. I’m mad I believed him.
Slightly OT: love “pipe down in the cheap seats” !!!
The suing people when they called him out is the worst. How does this jerk live with himself? Sleep at night?
if he wasn’t panicked about his fortune he would have never sat down to answer these questions and admit to doping. it’s also sickening how he rationalizes what he did by pointing out “well, everyone else did it”. he in no way came off as authentically sorry; he just wants to be let back in to the professional athlete circuit so he can replace his millions after the slue of lawsuits that are about to happen.
This x 1,000,000.
+1
He’s a con trying to minimise his criminal and thuggish activity so he’ll be let back into the club with few consequences. Some “flaws”.
Agreed
I really wanted the people from “Lie To Me” with me to point out all of his assh0le micro expressions. I did catch the smirk when he said about the wife of his former teammate, “I never said you were fat”. Bitch, liar, crazy, but not fat.
Psychostrong
HAHAHAHA yes , Send Tim Roth in to question him…
Send Tim Roth to interrogate me. Mmm Tim Roth. Oh wait, what were we talking about?
Omg Tim Roth would be awesome!
OK so it may not be Tim Roth but here is a body language expert’s opinion: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/body-language-expert-lance-armstrong-proud-of-fooling-everyone-8457220.html
I agree! I wish Eyes for Lies could analyse the video minute by minute.
I noticed a couple of tells, he smirks and his eyes change when he’s not telling the truth. For example: the wife comments, and then, more interestingly in my opinion, when asked about whether he knows how or why the Federal Prosecutors dropped the case. He smirked, face changed expression and said (paraphrasing) “No. That would have been difficult to do” The little @sshole was basically bragging about how that was hard but he got it done!
Funny, I said you don’t need Lightman to see he is still lying his ass off. On nearly every question. His tells are quite obvious with Oprah and absolutely beyond obvious in the taped depositions
Glad to see I wasn’t the only one who thought about “Lie to Me.” He continuously pursed his lips, which I think means contempt or anger… which wouldn’t surprise me. But you don’t need to know how to read micro expressions to see that he is so arrogant and deceitful. This douchebag isn’t sorry… he’s sorry he got CAUGHT and he’s scared of losing his millions that he acquired by being a big fat cheater.
As for that load of crap about how everyone else did it… come on, Lance. If your friends jumped off a bridge, you would jump too? Lame.
Maybe I’m naiive, maybe I just think the best of people, but I was really surprised to hear this guy was a cheat. I’m disappointed, but there you go.
He was very good at it,very skilled in the art of deception the worst of it is that he subscribes to his own hype and thinks others should to.
He had tons of fans and followers who believed in him for a very long time. The media supported him, some more than others. One writer is pretty pissed:
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8852974/lance-armstrong-history-lying
Wow! Thanks for that. He’s furious. This is a sportscaster who ended up unwittingly as LA’s mouthpiece. Talk about being used. He writes about what a lot of people I imagine have been feeling.
Don’t feel bad Mel, I spent a lot of time defending the asshole myself. Really hope he ends up bankrupt just for suing all the people that called him out on his actions. The man is scum.
Agreed! Over the years I listened to my BF thrill to all those Tour races. I bought her posters. She’s now incensed. Such disappointment and outrage for so many.
I think the worst part about his whole “confession” is that the only thing he really regrets is coming back for “tour de france” in 2009-2010.Because otherwise he wouldn’t have got caught, obviously. Such an enormous a..hole.
Yes. I actually can’t believe he said that.
Is he a Sociopath? Seriously, no remorse NONE. Just words but with absolutely no feelings of regret or guilt. He’s an awful person.
He’s merciless (it’s different for me),ambitious and talented
i believe he has no remorse because he wanted to be the best and he had the help of many cyclism officials
the cyclism sphere is pretty hypocrite about the doping
I agree.
That’s right. I’ll never forget how he mocked the great and unfortunate Marco Pantani about his looks, belittling his achievements. Pantani never had any officials to cover up for him! Quite the contrary, they set out to ruin him and they got away with it.
Haha. Right before I read your comment I was thinking that to myself. I think he might be one.
One of the many AWESOME posters on this site suggested the book ‘The Sociopath Next Door’. I am reading it, and it is fascinating, so yes, I think Lance could be….
Love it! I also read that book after someone on Celebitchy recommended it. I also read ‘Inside Scientology’ that was recommended on this site, as well as ‘Furious Love’, all good reads. I really think we need a page of interesting reads on that everyone can comment on, maybe even a Celebitchy Book club! 🙂
i said it before and ill say it again. this guy is a narcissistic sociopath!
theres a good documentary on that topic on yt. “narcissists – full documentary”. watch it and decide for yourself. this guy fits it perfectly (imo).
Google ‘corporate sociopath’. Someone linked it in another discussion. It describes someone with the mentality that the means justify the end, and in the end all that matters is winning. There are a few other notables, such as The Donald (can’t remember others they named). It describes Lance to a tee. He really is not the least bit contrite, he is just trying to soften up his public image to his advantage. So he can get back to #winning.
He certainly seems to display some of the sociopath’s characteristics. I guess he thinks that because no one died, it’s all okay.
At least he can’t argue that his behaviour was “harmless”.
But they did. Just not him, directly from doping.
I’m not sure if anyone from his teams did, as I stopped following cycling in the 90s, but I do remember there were some high profile deaths from “heart attacks” which may have been simple SADS, but was likely brought on by doping enlarging the heart.
This guy regrets one thing – getting caught.
Tw*t.
Exactly what I was going to say. He has no remorse. Only arrogance.
Dude is such a prat he’s just opened himself to a tonne of lawsuits all over the world and it couldn’t happen to a nicer person twat.
Question to my fellow Brits has he just opened himself to a criminal case bearing in mind what happened with Tommy Sheriden?
Ooh … good question.
I’m not a legal eagle but I certainly hope so. This guy deserves to be totally cleaned out, I thought Djokovic’s comments were so right.
Yeah, Djokovic speaks from his heart and I do agree with him in this case. FYI, Djokovic said Armstrong was a cheat who disgraced the sport and should lose all his titles and be made to suffer for his lies (or something to that effect.)
I love me some good old Nole he does seem to speak a lot of sense that one
He lied and is smirky about it what a douche! I hope his career stays in the crapper he should just fade away.
He looks like somebody I would not want to be alone in a room with. S C A R Y
I haaaaate self serving apologies. Apologize better!
he can’t apologize because he has no remorse
“I’m sorry, but it wasn’t my fault. I’m sorry, but everyone else was doing it too.”
Remember during the Dan Harmon/Chevy Chase debacle when Harmon was basically like ‘I was 100% wrong to do what I did. There is no excuse.’ I want THAT. or I’m burning my LiveStrong running shorts!
Exactly. Some people are SO effin’ prideful. They live their lives telling lies and manipulating others (in Armstrong’s case the American public) then seem genuinely surprised when karma comes back and bites them in the ass. Lies eventually catch up with people and how they react when the shit hits the fan is very indicative of what kind of a person they are.
What an ass.
Saw Tyler Hamilton on The Today Show this AM and I thought he killed it (as much as you can “kill it” in a lame TS interview).
Took full responsibility for everything he did and seemed genuinely contrite. He repeatedly stated that Armstrong doesn’t owe him an apology as much as he owes an apology to a whole other group of people that he d*cked over. He also said that in his opinion Lance didn’t “make” anyone on the team dope, but did lead by example. It was really refreshing to see someone own his mistakes and express genuine remorse, no excuses, no backpedaling, no self-pitying. Lance Armstrong, on the other hand…
Lance is nothing but a human ponzi scheme. The narcissist that he is doesn’t allow for full disclosure…he’s not wired that way.
This is another sad day for sports. I’m glad the truth is finally coming to light but it’s sad how pervasive this stuff is, the drugs and the lying. When I was younger I though cheating on tests was clever but now I realize cheating was wasting my time, the teacher’s time, the school’s time and wasting an opportunity to learn that would never come again. Cheating is pointless and self-destructive but all too human. Especially in a “win at any cost” society where everyone wants an edge.
Really? No comments about the link between hgh and cancer. That is the angle that interests me.
That was the very first thing I thought of when this story broke. Is there a link between PED’s and cancer? I think there must be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testicular_cancer the cancer is the most common cancer at the men between 20 and 39 years old
This was my favorite quote:
“I called you crazy, I called you a b***h, I called you all these things, but I never called you fat.”
LOL, ok buddy. Thanks for clearing that up.
Which he said to f*ing Oprah, spilling over her chair. You could almost feel the air change. He felt it too. Unfortunately O got a grip. I was hoping she was finally going to have at him 🙁
Betsy deserves a much much better public apology but nope still cracking jokes – Asshat
No conscience, no remorse…he’s vile.
Ok. Now that we got this out of the way, I’m waiting for the Usain Bolt no holds barred Oprah special…
Oh crap
I’m more saddened AND insulted that he lied, continually, throughout the years about not doping (and with a smug, holier-than-thou attitude to boot) than him committing the actual doping itself.
I have to admit to a bit of schadenfreude watching the interview.
I have always thought he was a jerk, that being said.. all i see is a damaged man with tons of flaws. He is an arrogant, ego-driven, liar. Watching this interview sure confirmed it. I would like to know why Oprahs self-entitlement makes her judge & jury. Talk about an ego..
I wonder how much of this Sheryl Crow knew.
She was probably in on it, knowing her.
What a jackass! Pass the blame, deflect, spin it to make yourself look better. What an ass. I think we’ve found Leann’s third husband.
Interesting article. He was mostly honest, not whining, no fake tears. The culture was different back then. He didn’t feel guilty because the bulk (not all) of them were doing it. So I knew that years ago about that sport, so nothing surprised me. It was his bullying behavior that is off-putting. All the suing later.
I hope the cancer was not a lie too.
Very disappointed. And his lack of remorse is just…
No, he definitely had cancer. That’s how he learned of some of the drugs they give to cancer victims which help restore your red blood cells. He used his cancer to hide the doping as well.
Watch the movie Ted so you can see Lance’s nut bronzed in all it’s glory..TFF ^^
So let me start by saying that I do think he should be held accountable for what he’s done. Just cuz he apologized to Oprah I don’t think he should get a free pass.
I watched the whole interview and here’s what I was struck by:
1) He STILL overcame cancer (whether he caused it or not is not valid, if a smoker fights to recover to lung cancer and goes on to do great things, is it invalidated cuz he smoked…). From that angle he is still inspirational to a lot of people.
2) He was a big ole A**hole and he is paying the price know for that!!
3) It is unfair to target only Lance for doping. The whole elite field should be under scrutiny, not just him (many elite cyclists I’m sure where thrilled it was him, and not them, that was the target)
4) If everyone else was doing it, doping using the same methods he did, then from that screwed up starting point he STILL won 7 titles!! Doping alone does not accomplish that – that was a lot of training.
5) How many other sports are hiding the unscrupulous ways in which their athletes are achieving super human feats????
+1
I totally agree. I’m not that judgmental about it. It was the climate back then and no testing to speak of. No one feared getting caught because they knew they wouldn’t, like he said.
I find more disturbing his behavior these last few years suing everybody and some of his behavior regarding those coming clean and comments, etc.
I agree with u 100%. He’s not alone in this mess. The baseball Hall of Fame did NOT bestow that honor on anyone due to this wide spread doping issue. Armstrong DID work his ass off for this sport. There were Olympic hopeful that were unable to compete… for this reason. I don’t condone it, but it is what it is.
Agreed. I can’t wrap my head around why this admission is supposed to be shocking news. If it wasn’t Lance, it would have been someone else who got found out and they wouldn’t be sorry either. I probably wouldn’t be sorry if it were me, especially if cheating really is as common as he suggests. It’s so stupid to proliferate a culture of professional athletes as superhuman heroes and then be SHOCKED and DISMAYED when it turns out some of them are just regular guys using dirty means to get ahead. Also, the guy lost a testicle. Everyone gets a break for that in my book.
@momoftwo – Thank you for the post! I have not commented on LA posts here because of the way everyone seems to be mob-lynching him. What he did is wrong. Period. No excuses on that. But to witch-hunt LA and ignore the bigger problem of doping as a culture in sports and excessive competition backed by millions of dollars as price money is missing the forest for the trees. The prevalence of doping culture in sports is not about just one athlete and to see it from that POV only is faulty. Should LA be punished? Yes. Would the problem go away? No. The pervasiveness of doping is the reason why he didn’t think he was wrong. What happens to all the other athletes also guilty of doping? He is not wrong about his “level playing” comment.
Hell, a lot of sporting bodies cover up the doping culture. You are right when you say that he still won the titles considering everyone else also doped. I’m not rationalizing what LA did, but to take it out of context and lynch only this man will not end the doping culture. Doping is a open secret in many sports like corruption is in politics. And as in high-profile corruption cases, the focus invariably shifts towards an individual while ignoring the system. What is the big question here? Address doping through LA’s case or just target LA and forget to talk about the pervasiveness of doping in sports? Doping unfortunately has been institutionalized and addressing that is a bigger challenge.
He’s not a victim of circumstance. He’s not a victim, period.
I never said he is a victim. He choose what he did and he’ll pay for it, hopefully. My point is that just targeting LA will do nothing to clean the system. So many people are complicit of hiding or endorsing this culture in sports and LA is just one of them. I’m seeing this as an institutionalized problem. You may want to listen to this interview of Daivd Walsh. He talks about how the media was complicit in covering up for LA in 1999 when most journalists knew what LA was doing was impossible without doping.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiLeRengPPA
First of all …. The drugs he used FOR SURE cause Cancer … it has been proven ( see youtube for the documentary on East German’s doping in the 70’s and 80’s) …. I do not have the same compassion for some man who knowingly poisoned and took drugs that he by his own admission in a Larry King interview knew caused Cancer as I do for a person who developed due to living in an area with power lines…. If you in this day in age are smoking cigarettes after you have been warned over and over about throat … lung.. and even tongue cancer than no I have no sympathy for you… I will pray for you and move on as I do not want anyone to suffer…
Please STOP IT with this everyone was doing it crap… I do not care if the POPE was doing it … it is STILL WRONG… the Tour de France has rules and they go by them same as you an I .. you do not like it do something else… I have always said the race was impossible to win …and if you could you for sure would not win 7 times… his EGO and need to be the best cause him to go back for more… greedy… greed always gets you caught … that last hand trip to the cookie jar ….
Also I advise you all to do some research on STEROIDS and HGH …. every person reacts different to different sorts of medicine… that is very common knowledge.. no matter if you take the same dosage at the same time… so people have a hyper active response to HGH other do not… so maybe Lance reacted better to it than others… Also you can only have access to that stuff if you have a lot of money it is very expensive.. so while Lance is worth millions he now has access to the best drugs and best Doctors … that alone puts him at a better advantage that the other 100 folks running… the fact is I could care less if 95% of people racing did it … if 5% refused to and did it the hard way then they were CHEATED…. so it can never be a leveled playing field…once you allow drugs in sports it no longer is about the game and all about who has the best drugs and best doctors… period….
He is for sure a SOCIOPATH (I studied criminology in school) … he only did this to help his broken image .. he is not sorry … at all … he is sorry that he took that final trip back to the cookie jar in 2009 cause he was caught ….
I always say you can only do bad for so long… the drugs again are not the issue when it comes to him … you want to cheat you want to deceive fine you have to answer to the Lord about that … but the suing and bulling and ruining the livelihood of people that were his best friends… and closet
confidantes is what makes him an EVIL man… saying ” I have sued so many people I can not remember “whether or not I sued my old friends wife is SICK!!!!!
I do not care what he did with live strong that is totally separate from his evil doings… and again… live-strong is a charity he founded and headed how the hell do you all know where the $500 million he says he raised went …. many people steal from
charities all the time … i would love if they audited the charity to see where all these funds went… because at this point I believe nothing out of his mouth … if he is talking he is lying ..
The sad thing is this same convo was not going on when Marion Jones was sent to jail or Michael Vick… White folks have been running dog fights for YEARS …. Centuries and he gets sent to jail and damn near crucified over a dog fight …Sad thing is Lance belongs in prison for obstruction of justice and tampering with witnesses by using his money and high powered attorneys to intimidate the people willing to come clean … but he won’t because his lawyers made sure he waited till the statue of
limitations was over to talk … bull crap
He needs to pay all the money back ….
Also this desire to want to rake over the coals all the others is dumb … no one else was as big in cycling as him … no one… most people never even paid attention to any cycling before he came out … he made over $100 million in the game … and by his own admission lost $75 million in future endorsements… as your mother always said ” the bigger they are the harder they fall” if he could enjoy all the perks the life brought him he can enjoy the fall ….
besides everyone else except a few came clean and admitted it ..
I like this post. I also want to say that overcoming cancer does not make one a good person by default.
Having cancer doesn’t give him a pass. Many of us live with or have beaten cancer and none of the side effects include creating saints.
In latter years he used cancer and Livestrong as a shield to protect him from wider scrutiny. Now he managed to wreck whatever positive legacy he could’ve created with that.
To be blunt, healthwise he got off lightly as a number of cyclists died off-season from EPO.
He wasnt the only one doping presided and actively promoted doping, pressurised others into either doping or collusion. The money followed US Postal pressuring others like Festina to elevate- but they weren’t crafty enough to not get caught.
He tried to destroy the reputation of those who quite legitimately pointed out that a previously successful triathlete who put in a respectable but middling Tour de France in his first outing suddenly winning it 7 times in a row in a completely unsustainable manner (all attacking, all the time) and teammates suddenly putting in the same performances was suspicious to say the least. He tried to ruin and bully people like Paul Kimmage and Emma O’Reilly.
He’s a nasty piece of work, even before the drugs, so sod him. And the horse he rode in on.
I remember when the doping allegations first came out, I always thought he was innocent because I didn’t think anyone who had fought cancer would risk their health to do that. It never dawned on me that the doping might have caused the cancer. He is not a nice person. Just a complete and total disgrace. He has fallen from grace, but not nearly far enough!!!
Ok, in 20 years time it’ll be Phelps doing the same thing, wanna bet?
Oh, I will have to disagree. As an ex-swimmer myself, I follow swimming and I can tell you the guy is tested by 3 (THREE!!!!) agencies pretty much every month. They go hard on him because what he did in Beijing was superb and there is this stigma attached to it so people want to take Michael down.
I don’t think he is into that stuff simply because his coach is as innovative as it comes. He is the guy that created the kind of trainig that pretty much every single coach around the world immitates. He has built a machine (Michael) and he is responsible for it.
Yea and Michael is just biologically superior when it comes to swimming. His arms and legs are so long and shaped in such a way that they are like flippers. Its like a dolphin swimming against regular guys..no comparison.
I’m not saying Phelps is dirty, but that argument means nothing. Lance was also tested more than any other cyclist in the peloton. He also claimed to be biologically superior (his heart was supposedly more effective at pumping oxygen around his body).
Good point. I am sure he would have gotten incredible results either way. The thing is, he is not above average. He completely blew average, his performance is unparalleled!
If I am not mistaken, he signed up for (not sure if that’s the correct term) several competitions in a row. Yes, there were some intervals, but is that enough for an athlete to recover and perform the way he did? Are his body mutations enough to explain that? I hope you, as a former swimmer, can throw some light on those questions 🙂
Regarding his constant testing, well… people can always be bribed and blackmailed. See the Lance case.
I do not believe people with great performances necessarily dope themselves. But his particular case is so extraordinary, I can’t help but wonder…
The point is you do not know… so let snot go defending another person we know nothing about …. Lance was said to have a “special heart” .. lol more like “no heart”
Let’s just say we hope not.. cause we never know… and no amount of evidence can guarantee you do know
look at this gem from jack osburne defending lance.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2264375/Jack-Osbourne-defends-disgraced-cyclist-Lance-Armstrong.html
Who is Jack Osbourne and why should we care? (Rhetorical question)
This might sound odd, but, here’s some info from someone linked to the cycling community:
1) It’s true that Lance isn’t a nice guy (he’s a jerk).
2) He’s 99.9% correct when he says he did it to “level the playing field.” Doping is rampant, particularly in Europe, where it is theorized that even the National Federation of Anti-Doping (think Spain) is involved in covering for their athletes. (Nadal not going to the Olympics, anyone?)
3) Lance has mad natural talent – no one should ever discredit his performances because of the doping. If you take a mediocre cyclist and dope them to the gills, they will be slightly better than mediocre. I’ll concede, however, that in an event like the Tour de France where you’re asking your body to do 100+ miles for 20+ days, recovery (via HGH or natural) is really what separates the top performers from one another; if you have a “bad” day you lose time and your race is done (“bad” day = crashing or bonking). As an aside, Lance is also an excellent bike handler and this substantially contributed to his TDF victories, keeping your bike up is part of the challenge.
4) Lastly, Lance had cancer. Bad cancer. Ask any doctor and they will tell you that the kind of cancer he had is horrendous and not many people recover. The odds really were against him. He had metastases all over his body. He recovered because he is special physiologically (probably naturally high growth hormone levels). Lance Armstrong did a great thing when he started the Livestrong Foundation. He gave real hope to countless individuals and inspired a nation. And for that, we should thank him. (Down the line too, when all of this is exposed, we might thank him one day for also giving the final push for cleaning up doping in the US – but this is a world-wide problem, and cleaning up the sport here won’t stop doping in other countries. So no more American Dominance in sports – it’s just not possible when there are still dopers i other countries. (Chris Horner and Jens Voight might be examples of riders who are/were clean throughout their careers).
Whatever, here’s a last thought: cycling is a team sport. It might look like an individual sport (it certainly is in some disciplines: cyclocross, time trials…) but a lot of Lance’s success is due to excellent support. From the riders to the team managers, to just having better equipment. Lance is also really determined – he is extremely disciplined and therefore would do things (legally – like control diet, sleep and exercise) that many others found difficult to do, even at that level of sport. Jan Ullrich, for example, would start most TDF overweight!!! He’s lose it over the course of the month, but those extra pounds really hurt him – JU is also likely the product of systematic, institutionalized doping in Germany’s past youth athletic program.
Exactly. Great, informative post.
I’m not in cycling, but this is how I have felt about this whole thing. Yeah, he’s an ass, yeah he’s a liar, but I think when you just say “he cheated!” that takes it out of context. Someone who was doping would have won those TDF’s, it may as well have been someone who was doing good things in the world.
Thanks for sharing your insight!
I agree with the points listed. Of course, people want to light the torches and burn the village down immediately. It is possible to look at those years with a more nuanced eye, neither completely accepting all his actions nor dismissing them all.
A lot of these points are ones that people have made on other Armstrong posts on C/B and I completely agree with you, Erin. These are things to acknowledge and it’s why I personally don’t think he should be stripped of his medals. You can dope my ass till the cows come home and I still won’t be able to hit a baseball, for instance.
Honestly, I think the biggest problem people have with him is that he went above and beyond to lie. It wasn’t just like his lies only affected him, either. He put people through hell and publicly marred many well-respected reputations to cover up his BS. I mean, come on, the guy is an epic asshole.
That being said, I agree with your post-on a purely athletic level, Armstrong is still extraordinarily talented, dope or no dope.
If people want every athlete to be judged purely on their athleticism then we would need to eradicate endorsement deals entirely and make Lance give his millions back. Image MATTERS in sports-and while there’s a valid argument to be made that image SHOULDN’T matter, but the reality is that it DOES. A huge part of an athlete’s public image is based on their integrity and many people feel that Armstrong has none.
EDIT: Livestrong was pretty deceptive IMO. Many people who bought the yellow wristband did so under the impression that they were contributing to Cancer research, not just Cancer support services (which is what Livestrong provides). Not that support services aren’t important too–but Livestrong was and is not doing anything to help the search for a cure, like many people were deceived into thinking. Also, that website sucks.
Back in 2001 my SIL was diagnosed with the final stage of the most leathal type of kidney cancer. What followed were 17 months of surgeries, chemo, hospitalization. Since they had to move to a different city for better care, they both had to take leave from work, and fell into a horrible financial situation. The whole family tried to help as much as we all could, but it was a very rough time for all.
I wrote to Livestrong 3 times, fighting back the tears to be able to write at all, begging for some assistance, help or just advice/direction (back then the internet was not anywhere near the ‘gold mine of knowledge’ it is today). All I ever received in return was a BROCHURE about organic foods and clean living.
Letters 4 and 5 went to the director of the foundation and to Lance himself.
Long story short – they sent me a ‘pie-chart wheel’ on which you could read what types of cancer there are and who, i.e. what type of doctor to see about it. Attached was a DONATION PLEDGE form with directions for setting up auto-deductions from my bank account. It was the biggest, most calous F U possible.
I was devastated by the complete lack of interest or will to help. I spent the next month crying helplessly since Livestrong was our last hope for any relief, mentally, psychologically and medically.
I could not believe the calousness, the carelessness, the complete disregard for pleas for help.
What hurt the most was their ‘who cares’ attitude. Until then I have been an avid supporter of Livestrong, sending in donations, spreading the ‘gospel’ of Lance and ‘all he’s doing for cancer’. Afterward, I started questioning what is really going on in there, and sadly it took almost 10 years for some journalist to actually catch the scent, and start investigating the true function of the foundation.
It is my opinion that Lance started Livestrong with an express purpose of ingratiating himself to the media and the public, in hopes of that public’s support and pressure being able to get him out of trouble were he ever to get into it for doping. I think it was meant to be a sham, a facade, and it did a pretty good job of that since for a decade it seemed inconceivable to millions of fans and regular people that this wonderful person, this dedicated cancer crusader would be involved in any of the cheating scandals.
I defended Lance all the way till last Monday, when they announced he’s going on Oprah.
Now, after hearing his faux ‘confession’ I believe more than ever that he is a horrible person, who used his own and others’ ilnesses for his own personal gains, who heartlessly and with premeditation wormed his way into our hearts and collective psyche, and who paid back the love and support with viciousness, vengence, hate and destruction.
It is NOT that he cheated and lied that hurst the most. It is that he purposely and cruelly made us love and admire him, while there was ever only a facade, an empty promise, a fairytale, a dream and a scam, only a heartless sociopath masquerading as a hero.
(P.S my SIL survived, and after a decade on cancer drugs is now free of it – but the ordeal destroyed their family).
What about the people whose lives he ruined who were telling the truth about him? He is a sad excuse for a human being. I had cancer, bad cancer and it doesn’t give me an excuse to be an a$$hole later in life now that I beat it. He disgusts me. Now that he admits what we all knew we are supposed to forgive him? WHATEVS!
This.
It makes me angry when people say “oh, that person had X physical/mental problems, we should all be extra nice and give them lots of leeway because of it.” Look, I’m disabled. I’m in horrible pain 24/7. I need extra leeway for physical movement and for remembering things (pain meds) and such. NOT for being an asshole!
This man ruined many other people’s lives. He didn’t cheat on his wife; he committed criminal acts. And he shows no remorse. I’d like someone to do a compare/contrast between how the public reacts to Armstrong and how they reacted to Tiger Woods. I predict they’ll forgive Armstrong far sooner, and there will be more apologetics like that above for Armstrong than there were for Woods, even though what Woods did was private and what Armstrong did was criminal.
Interesting, my sister brought up the Tiger Woods thing…I’m sure a lot of people brought it up. I wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be the case.
Great post. Like other crimes, often the bigger crime is the cover up. What the perpetrator will do to protect themselves.
He’s an asshole for doping, whatever the justification was. He’s a super special asshole for the scorched earth policy he maintained to cover up the doping.
One thing though, I’m not a big fan of dropping names to maybe back up claims. Rafael Nadal has been out of tennis for quite a while with an injury and most recently a virus. So to casually question his not playing at the Olympics in a discussion on doping isn’t really fair.
Except that- The early 90’s were a doping nightmare in organised cycling. There was a massive effort to clean up the sport. The 98 Tour was a free for all of positive testing riders. It was a mess. The sport was at a crossroads. Lance issued in the new era. They had the opportunity to make big change. Everyone, including – increasingly the peloton, was looking to be clean. This- this is the environment in which Lance, Bruyneel & Ferrari cemented their domination. If you were a rider and questioned them, you were swiftly and completely ostracized. Reporters that side eyed them were banned from interviews. Lance controlled all of that. He, Bruyneel & hos lawyers saw to it that he had total domination over all the players in the game. Armstrong ruled the next decade with a bullying litigating intimidating iron fist. No one should ever be allowed to have that serious of a monopoly over a situation. He and his team are entirely, completely, solely responsible for the last decade of debauchery in professional cycling. Period. Everyone was doing it, yes. If you weren’t, team Armstrong saw to it that you could not find a team to ride on and that you were vilified in the media. His mistake was blowing off Landis. UCI’s mistake was letting him buy results, letting Ferrari stay in and generally a zero tolerance policy that let Armstrong achieve abusive relationship status on an entire culture
I don’t necessarily blame him for the doping, as my husband said “I wish I had some scrubbed blood, I’m exhausted”
The rub is Lance is not coming clean, he’s still lying, that was no confession. I’m offended by his arrogance and asshatery, not him oxygenating his blood or lying about giving himself cancer with Poe (yeah, great code name Ya genius) I’m offended by the years of stronghold duchery.
He was the Prince of the peloton and the Mellow Johnny (ha!) for an entire era, by manipulation and control. “Everyone was doing it was no excuse” HE was the sheriff.
Asshat – everyone is still ‘doing it’ it will take a dominate CLEAN TEAM with a whistleblower attitude to make a difference.
Sounds like a perfect apologia. And most of it mere opinion, I think. Lance is an unrepentant CRIMINAL, not some heroic figure. He has left damage and devastation in his wake.
THE TYPE OF CANCER HE HAS THE DRUGS CAUSED… PERIOD …. SO PLEASE WITH THIS CRAP … He said with his own words no one can win it without the drugs … the most arrogant … egotistical man said that out of his own mouth .. so no he may not have been all that great ..and the sad point is he will never know for sure !!!
You all just can not accept the fact that he lied and cheated and doped…. so you have no idea how good of an athlete he really was cause he has been doping since the early 90’s … so you do not know how good he was …. LAWD…. just deal with the fact that he was an asshole… stop trying to see the good… there is none… he caused his own cancer period….
I can’t accept people saying that Lance caused his cancer. First, it would assume that he was using the drugs way before the diagnosis in 1996, at age of 25. Also, an assumption that PEDs are cancer causing. I have a huge problem with this line of thinking, and here is why:
1. testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 20-39.
2. odds of getting TC are 1 in 250!
3. if Lance’s TC was caused by PEDs, then why would he be stupid enough to intentionally endager his life again, after beating cancer, by taking the same drugs again, for years?
4. here is a list of other famous men who had TC: figure skater Scott Hamilton, comedian Tom Green, runner Steve Scott, former CNN anchor Bob Losure, TV news personality Dan Abrams, sportswriter Robert Lipsyte, former baseball player John Kruk, and author Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.
Did they all cause their own cancers, too? Did Tom Green dope to be better at stand-up, which did not work by the way, and thus gave himself TC? Did Dan Abrams dope to enhance his comprehension skills of legal rulings, and ended up with TC instead? Did Scott Hamilton use PEDs to help him stay on his skates and increase a number of spins he could do, and for that TC got him?
We still do not know, in majority of cases, what causes any specific person’s cancer. We think or suspect external factors such as smoking, drinking, sedentary lifestyle, etc. yet millions of people with the same exact circumstances do not develop any type of cancer.
Just as it is irresponsible to cast a doping suspicion without proof, so it is to blame cancer on PEDs or other factors of which we have no first hand knowledge.
This man is not sorry in the least. He is sorry for getting caught. The way he laughed about how many lives he destroyed and was not even contrite. Mr. Borg had the same type of cancer and really looked up to Lance. I feel bad for the people Lance inspired and believed in him. Those are the real victims.
I hope Sheryl Crowe is having a nice stiff celebratory drink.
He is an EPIC assh*le. Do you know that he actually mostly benefited from starting an NGO? It gave him semi-deity status to have been a super athlete, beaten cancer AND set-up an org to help cancer research, all when everyone was sporting LIVE STRONG yellow bracelets (everyone seemed to have one, celebrating how ‘amazing’ he was). The part that reveals what an epic assh*loe he was was that he was more than fine with it, loved it and was perfectly fine living with himself that people were celebrating a lie. HOW could he look himself in the mirror each morning?!?!?
EPIC DOUCHE.
Yes. The best way I’ve heard Livestrong described recently is as a “vanity cancer foundation.” Started not out of compassion but pure ego.
And to help deflect doping and lying accusations/rumors (“How bad can he be, he started a cancer foundation?”)
No integrity.
He cheated the clean athelets out of their victories, place in history, millions of dollars as well as sued and bullied people who dared to tell the truth.
Lance Armstrong is scum and is finally coming clean for his own self aggrandizment. I hope the only thing we hear about him in the future is how people are suing him to get their lives and forturnes back.
+1 I keep wondering about the poor guys who got cheated out of their rightful victory. Will they re-do the awards ceremonies? They should.
Arrogant and manipulative. Hope he gets stripped of his fortune.
lawyer-oo here. i think even this mea culpa is just another act of total arrogance b/c, given the sh*tload of legal liability he’s opened himself up to by doing this, there’s no way he didn’t have a team of lawyers telling him NOT to do this – – and he figured “eh, i can make it work” and did it anyway.
Thanks! Given his character and his almighty hubris, this makes such perfect sense. Because it doesn’t make sense to suddenly open yourself up to a slew of lawsuits etc. He still wants to bend reality to his will.
I just have to applaud “almighty hubris” Brava
I got the impression he might have come forward now because he thinks that he can change public perception of him. In so doing, he can maybe make his endorsers happy and earn/save his fortune.
As for going against common sense/legal advice – goes to show the deep level of arrogance and greed that lives deep in this guy.
Smugly pathetic
I wish someone like Anderson Cooper, or one of the 60 Minutes guys, had done the interview. They would have been much more forceful –
Same here (even Steve Wilkos: “Get the hell off my stage!”)….Lance doesn’t seem remorseful to me.
Ooooh – that’s good. I never thought of Steve Wilkos. That would just be too funny to watch!
Oprah was GREAT !!!!! No one would have done it better… if Anderson or Steve did it .. it would have become a screaming match … she was the best for the job … You have to give it to her
I just got home from my “Issue in contemporary media and theater” course and we were talking about lying and we watched this interview. What a snake this man is!! He’s a lying SOB, for sure. I love how he says that his doping plan wasnt the most sophisticated and compares it to East Germany. The doping in Germany was huge but mainly happened in one place and team. His was a worldwide and incredibly sophisticated plan of action. It’s pretty clear that everyone around them knew about it and that makes everyone complicit. I’m betting there are some people being fired Nike and his other sponsorships over this. And just wait until his ass gets sued by everyone.
Him doing this interview is just another way to “control” the situation, there’s something going on behind the scenes and it definitely has to do with $$$$$. He’s not sorry at all, dude is a straight up sociopath.
It will be interesting to see if they get some forensic accounting experts after him to see how much money he’s got stashed away in secret Swiss or offshore accounts under a million different company names and pseudonyms because there are lots of people demanding money back.
Oh, and you could tell every time he lied last night because he’d scratch his head or his mouth and say ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT’. Then look at clips from 5 or 10 years ago and he does exactly the same thing while blatantly lying.
He’s one of those sickos who actually get off on lying to, bullying, intimidating and hurting people under the guise of ‘competing’. Douchebag doesn’t even begin to describe his level of horribleness.
The words “arrogant”, “bully”, “not sorry”, “a$$hole”, “d!ckhead”, “liar” and “ugly” don’t even begin to stratch the surface of this sociopath. He SUED PEOPLE FOR SPORT when he knew they were telling the truth. Jeffrey Toobin said if he really is worth $100M he can kiss it all goodbye and I hope that’s true. I hope he spends every dime he has defending himself against lawsuits and perjury charges and whatever else the law can throw at him, and I hope it takes him into serious debt. What he did was so inexcusable and so reprehensible, it’s beyond comprehension. And he STILL won’t admit what he said in front of Betsey in the hospital.
This isn’t even about him lying anymore, moreso than the fact that this guy SUED and bullied and made others miserable when they knew what was going on.
+ 1
I hope he gets sued for libel, slander, perjury, and, if possible, malicious prosecution.
“When asked about all of the times he blatantly lied and sued the hell out of people who told the truth about him, Lance said: “I view this situation as one big lie”.”
Ooooh, sneaky bugger. As if it were only ONE lie!
Just heard on the news that the United States Postal Department gave Armstrong and his racing team 30 million dollars. Post offices are closing and cutting hours all across this country, but they gave this fool 30 Million?
Please someone tell me I heard this wrong. Sweet, sweet Jesus wake up America.
Nope you heard right … our great USPS company gave Lance Armstrong $30 million dollars to ride a bike through France in a stupid race…. My Aunt retired from the Post Office … and the running joke this week in my family is “Lance done took your pension money
I live in PA with several small town post offices near me. They are all cutting hours, some only open 12-3 during the week. This country is sliding into the sewer faster and faster. Glad I don’t give any of my hard earned money to any pro sport or pro athlete. Now they are talking about raising the retirement age to 70.
This ass needs to give all of his money back, starting with individual people he f-ed over, anything that involved taxpayers, etc. I’m not shedding many tears for Nike and the like. If he had any morals, he would start just making payback deals rather than making people have to sue him. (like that’s going to happen, i know, i know). he’s going to make some lawyers some money as well – his own and other people’s before he probably eventually files for bankruptcy. his accounts should be frozen so he can’t pull any moves.
I am going to watch Part II tonight-to see what else he has to say.
“absolutely Not’ is my new coined phrase for when i want to deny and lie with a straight face. Thanks, Lance!
“Replacing ‘I don’t recall’ for 50, please, Alex”
A complete dick in every way, sociopath does not even begin to cover it. What about his kids? Did he ever even consider what they will feel or the bullying that is in their future? He was okay doing it to others, will it be okay when his kids are the victims because of him? He needs to be in jail for what he has put others through and the money he has stolen through his lies, manipulations and character assasinations. POS.
What an arrogant asshole. He shows absolutely no remorse in his actions. I was a serious athlete in college. 12 time All American swimmer….spent years training and competing. The fact that I looked up to him makes me sick. He is only sorry for the simple reason of getting caught. What a douche…..feel sorry for his kids. Think about all the athletes he robbed of achieving greatness.
Don’t bother wasting your energy on hating him, just be proud of what you achieved.
That’s nonsense.
My father was glued to this interview for the past 2 nights. My father is French and he follows the Tour religiously every summer. I think it’s no secret that the French HATE Lance Armstrong. Not only because he dominated the tour for 7 years straight–they were some of the most vocal critics of Armstrong and that he doped. When Armstrong kept adamantly denying his doping, it made the French media look really bad–as if they were petty and jealous. Looks like the French were right all along!
How is he any worse than our politicians?
Excellent observation. I always longed to get Eyes For Lies opinion on Obama’s speeches (for instance). To me, he gives all the classic indicators of lying his a$$ off 80% of the time. Looking down, tight lower face and lips, clenched jaw. Egads.
Apologies in advance for Obama enthusiasts.
Irrelevant. What the cool kids call a straw man?
He swore he didn’t dope in 2009 but the records indicate differently…whoops! his 3rd place was revoked so maybe he can’t remember what he did.
in any case, he did not appear contrite; i wonder how much the mafia is in on this? someone is making a ton a money on him, still. he looked scared as shit to me, more than anything else.