Many people will roll their eyes at the proposition that Armstrong still has a platform. To be fair, he covers the Tour for Outside. And yet, in the interview, Armstrong proved himself perhaps more relevant than ever. But he maintained that the system is broken. But in reality it just raised more questions.
On Wednesday, Travis Tygart, the head of the U. He said the last time he doped was in The interview, which was conducted on Monday, aired only hours after Armstrong was officially stripped of his bronze medal by the IOC and months after a release of documents by the U.
Anti-Doping Agency painted him as a serial doper who manipulated and threatened his friends, teammates, and competitors. While Armstrong finally confesses worth remembering that pic he tweeted not that long ago… bit. But do you think the interview will be enough to control the massive damage that Armstrong has done to his brand? In cycling, once that sponsor, once the last day of that contract is up and you do not find a new sponsor, you just go home.
All you have are all the old bikes, the team bus, maybe some team cars, a whole lot of apparel and that is it. You do not own a thing. You are exactly right. Because when an athlete, especially a young athlete, from maybe from a rough background, uneducated — you put that kid in that place. I was that kid. I know exactly what that kid is thinking. You can also talk about the anti-doping movement.
It is where the two meet. Do you look at someone like him and wonder why he gets more of a pass than you seem to be? And what are the differences? I wish him the best. The reason I ask is — I just want to know why. Like what, what is the difference? And I actually, this is so funny. Six months ago, I woke up one day, and I was in Austin alone and I woke up and it was on my mind. And I went crazy. I was literally running around the house. The one key thing is that Alex Rodriguez was allowed to come back and play.
And Alex Rodriguez was part of a team sport. And, thirdly, Alex Rodriguez never stood for anything else other than baseball. So, I was never allowed to come back to my sport at any level, and most people viewed it as an individual sport. And I stood for much more than just cycling. You want to hear this crazy little side note of that day?
And I was watching the N. Sunday on Fox: Michael Vick. As everyone has said throughout history, the cover-up is way worse than the crime — usually, right?
There was an extremely litigious nature to his action and reaction. And so not to debate it with you, but there is no difference. I was at the back of the line when they were handing out the looks. I know I treated people the wrong way. I know I sued people. The people that were treated poorly, I have traveled the world to sit with, to talk to, to apologize to, to make amends and to try to move forward. He went pro as a teenager and then, as a lead rider on a cycling team, he was surrounded by other riders whose job, essentially, was to shield him: from the wind; from opposing riders; from unwanted scrutiny.
But now, Armstrong is pretty much without a shield. Like a lot of world-class athletes, he got walled off, early in life, from the real world.
This was evident back in early , when Armstrong sat for a long interview with Oprah Winfrey. This whole conversation, we have a lot of time, will be about the details. Yes or no, did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance? So, she had been a friend of mine for a long time. She is, obviously, who she is. I trusted her to do a tough, yet a fair interview. I had discussions with him. And, look, no matter who I talked to, be it you, be it Jesus Christ, be it whoever, it was not going to be good.
It was only going to be bad. But I had to do it. And I had to do it for this very reason: I knew that I was going to get sued six ways to Sunday. And we all know what happens when you get sued. When you get the papers, next thing you know they notice up your deposition. And those questions would have been the hardest-hitting, most mean-spirited, unfair questions.
And the next step after that was going to be the leak to the media. And so I chose to do it my way with her. I mean this is just — my buddy said it the best. For the casual fan it was too much. She thought I did a great job, and I thought I was completely honest and sincere.
I was, I mean I tried at least as hard as I could to be. They broke it up into two shows. The first show, which had the admission and talked about all of the drugs, was the bulk of that show. You were caught. You had to do this. I definitely was not there yet.
So I chose that setting and time and venue. It took me a good three or four years to get to this place. You know what it took me? It took me enough instances of having somebody come up to me that were fans.
Winfrey spoke as more details emerged of Armstrong's strategy to mitigate the fallout from a lifetime ban that has excluded him not only from cycling but from all sport worldwide. Usada's chief executive, Travis Tygart, told the Guardian last month that one of his greatest regrets was that Armstrong did not come clean when he had the chance, while its investigation was under way.
Instead, he refused to co-operate and his lawyers attacked Usada. The Wall Street Journal reported that he met Tygart in December to explore whether his ban could be reduced if he testified against others, allowing him to compete in elite triathlon events. But, according to the paper, the meeting ended with a frustrated Armstrong firing an expletive at Tygart and storming off.
He later met Winfrey in Hawaii, where they both have houses, over the Christmas holidays to finalise the terms of their interview. Wada, which ratified Usada's decision to ban Armstrong for life and strip him of all his titles, said on Tuesday that unless Armstrong made a full confession under oath and told the anti-doping authorities all he knew there would be no chance of his ban being reduced.
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