USA: CYCING - Lance Armstrong's desire to lift sanctions is behind his appearance with Oprah, according to journalist Juliet Macur

Record ID: 702569

  • Title: USA: CYCING - Lance Armstrong's desire to lift sanctions is behind his appearance with Oprah, according to journalist Juliet Macur
  • Date: 11th January 2013
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, DC., UNITED STATES. (JANUARY 10, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER JULIET MACUR SAYING: "David Millar, I believe gave his confession in a French Jail. So that is quite different than Lance Armstrong sitting in a cushy studio possibly with tissue in hand telling Oprah how sorry he is, if he indeed is sorry. So with Lance it's pretty much a surprise that he's doing it on Oprah rather than telling it to the U.S. Anti-doping Agency or the World Anti-Doping Agency first in an official confession so he could work out a deal with them to mitigate his lifetime ban."
  • Embargoed: 26th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAE4KSHLBPBM53ZNAHIA8L16XRX
  • Story Text: New York Times journalist Juliet Macur, who broke the Lance Armstrong confession story days before the annoucement that he would appear in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, says his return to competition is what motivates him.
    "Lance really wants to compete. This is basically what this guy has done since he was just a kid growing up in the suburbs of Dallas. He did graduate high school, but just barely because he wanted to be a professional athlete and he made millions because of it and he earned the adulation of millions of people around the world because of it and because of his cancer foundation and right now he has none of that. He can't compete. He's cut all ties to Livestrong, his cancer foundation because of all the damage the scandal has been doing to it so basically Lance Armstrong is just a shell of what he once was."
    Macur is skeptical, however, about how full a confession the world will see on January 17th and sees a double standard in the Armstrong situation.
    "David Millar, I believe gave his confession in a French Jail. So that is quite different than Lance Armstrong sitting on a cushy studio possibly with tissue in hand telling Oprah how sorry he is, if he indeed is sorry. So with Lance it's pretty much a surprise that he's doing it on Oprah rather than telling it to the U.S. Anti-doping Agency or the World Anti-Doping Agency first in an official confession so he could work out a deal with them to mitigate his lifetime ban."
    Millar, a Scottish cyclist, was arrested on a street in southwestern France and detained on doping charges.
    Macur points out that under the World Doping code an athlete's eligibility for reduced punishment depends on how comprehensive his or her confession is. His appearance on Oprah will not meet that standard.
    "Right now I think USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) wants him to sit down and sign his confession and give a list of other people who helped him dope, who helped cover up the lies for so many years so they can go after those people and those people probably include coaches and other doctors, possibly other people in USA Cycling, possibly people at the International Cycling Union so it could be this huge house of cards but Lance has to help. I guess going on Oprah is one way to do it but the next step is for him to get serious with USADA."
    Armstrong has always vehemently denied charges of doping and has never been proven to have tested positive.
    An Oct. 10 report from USADA cited Armstrong's involvement in what it characterized as the "most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen," involving anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, blood transfusions and other doping.
    Less than two weeks later, Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories were nullified and he was banned from cycling for life after the International Cycling Union ratified USADA's sanctions against him.
    In November, Armstrong, a survivor of testicular cancer, stepped down as a board member of Livestrong, the cancer-support charity he founded in 1997.
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