[size=4]Eamonn Sweeney: Two choices, one last chance[/size]
What Lance Armstrong[/url] should say on Oprah. "Iām sorry for being one of the biggest cheats in the history of sport. Not just because I took drugs to help me win the [url=āhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Tour_de_Franceā]Tour de France but because I then spent years insisting, in the face of evidence which became overwhelming, that I was actually the victim of some huge conspiracy.
Iām sorry that I bullied the people who tried to reveal the truth about me. I slagged them off on Twitter, I had my lawyers pursue them through the courts, I attacked them at press conferences.
Iām sorry that I didnāt just take drugs myself but was instrumental in organising the doping carried out by my subordinates on the US Postal Service team. Iām sorry that I paid large sums of money to the UCI in circumstances where some people could later allege that this was akin to a bribe and that I offered a similar payment to the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
Iām sorry that I compromised team employees by asking them to transport drugs and syringes. Iām sorry that I let down the fans who maintained that I never doped, probably because they couldnāt believe a guilty man would so brazenly proclaim his innocence. Iām sorry for threatening the livelihoods of more honest people than myself. Iām sorry that my position as the worldās most famous cyclist encouraged other cyclists to go the same route and made it impossible for cycling to tackle its drugs problem.
Iām sorry that when my former masseuse Emma OāReilly told the truth about me I tried to bankrupt her and, in her words, ādemonised her as a prostitute with a drinking problem.ā Iām sorry that when Betsy Andreu[/url], wife of my former team-mate [url=āhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Frankie_Andreuā]Frankie Andreu, told how Iād admitted using drugs to her, I said, āshe hates me,ā and portrayed her as being motivated by ābitterness, jealousy and hatred,ā and accused Frankie of lying ābecause heās trying to back up his old lady.ā And Iām sorry that UCI president Pat McQuaid described the cyclists who conclusively blew the whistle on me as āscumbags.ā
Iām sorry that during the 1999 tour I told the young French cyclist Christophe Bassons, who was known for his anti-drug stance, that he āshould get out of cycling.ā Iām sorry that I told the Italian cyclist Filippo Simeoni, whoād testified against Dr Michele Ferrari[/url], that Iād ādestroy,ā him. Iām sorry that I paid [url=āhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Ferrariā]Ferrari[/url], whoās serving a lifetime ban for doping offences, $1m and lied by claiming I didnāt have a close relationship with him. Iām sorry that when Greg [url=āhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Greg_LeMondā]LeMond criticised Ferrari I offered one of LeMondās former team-mates $300,000 to say heād seen him take EPO. And Iām sorry I chickened out and refused to co-operate when the USADA finally had enough evidence to damn me.
But I know itās not enough for someone to say theyāre sorry, theyāve got to prove their repentance in a concrete manner. Thatās why Iām going to do the following things.
Itās pretty clear that I couldnāt have avoided a positive drugs test without assistance from people in the higher echelons of the sport. USADA said that the doping programme carried out by my team was the most sophisticated in sport. I will be meeting with them to detail exactly how the programme worked so that they can foil similar programmes in the future.
I will be returning the prize money I won during my career, the sponsorship money and the money I won in libel cases from newspapers who told the truth about me. This may put me in financial trouble but sometimes a man has to do the right thing. Iām sorry that over the years Iāve impugned the integrity and character of journalists David Walsh and Paul Kimmage and suggested they were pursuing some kind of vendetta against me. Now Iād like to acknowledge that they acted honestly and I was the one who was in bad faith all along.
Iām sorry. But Iām not going to cry or make excuses for myself because it takes a real man to beat cancer and compete in the Tour de France[/url]. And only by making a complete, sincere and abject apology can I prove that Iām still the same [url=āhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Lance_Armstrongā]Lance Armstrong who did those things and not the shameless con artist I subsequently became.
Thank you Oprah for giving me this opportunity to come clean."
What Lance Armstrong will probably say on Oprah.
āIām sorry. But mainly for myself (sniffles). Iām afraid that there have been times in my life when I didnāt make the best choices and, through no real fault of my own, things happened that maybe shouldnāt have happened.
But the important thing to remember is the hope that my victories gave to those suffering from cancer and those who were helped by the Lance Armstrong Foundation, now trading as Livestrong.
I know in my heart that people are alive today thanks to my foundation. If I did wrong in some way, okay. But to admit that would have damaged the cause to which I have dedicated my life away from cycling. And to do so would have damaged the community I really care about, the Cancer Community (Tears).
I want to ask those people who tried to tear me down: if people believed that I was a cheat, what would have happened to the Lance Armstrong Foundation? Would we have raised all those millions of dollars to help cancer patients? Would it have been worth destroying all that Iād built? I hope theyād have been able to live with themselves. Because people with cancer donāt care about a USADA report, they care about hope. And it wouldnāt have been fair for me to take that away from them. (Tears).
In cycling, Oprah, all the leading riders were taking drugs. Coming to Europe from America, I was amazed to discover this. And if someone did take drugs to help their performance, well all they were doing was levelling the playing field, right? I won those Tours de France fair and square. I had no advantage over anyone I was racing against. Youāre lucky, Oprah, because you can make your living here in the USA. But I had to compete in Europe. And the Europeans didnāt like to see an American winning a race theyād always won. Above all, they hated to see a guy from Texas[/url] winning when my friend [url=āhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/George_W._Bushā]George Bush was making the world safe for democracy. They donāt like us over there so they hounded me.
I never made anyone take drugs. The thought that Iād do that (voice wavers), God (fights back tears, carries on bravely). Floyd Landis[/url] and [url=āhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Tyler_Hamiltonā]Tyler Hamilton[/url] canāt blame me for their poor choices in life. Theyāve got to take responsibility for their actions just as Iām doing now. Iād say to them, guys donāt let your lives be destroyed by resentment and bitterness. Itās not worth it. There are a lot of things I wish I could say but for legal reasons I canāt. And a lot of things I wonāt say because my mom raised me better than that. In the words of that great American President [url=āhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Richard_Nixonā]Richard Nixon, āOthers may hate you but those who hate you donāt win unless you hate them and then you destroy yourself.ā
Listen, Lance Armstrong is going to bounce back from this. You know this is small stuff compared to being told that youāre probably going to die from cancer. But I beat cancer. Iām a winner and winners donāt quit.
Those journalists and critics donāt matter to me. What matters to me is the Cancer Community, and my kids. And I want to be able to look them in the face and say straight out that if I did anything wrong, Iām sorry. Really. (Tears).
Thanks for giving me the chance to get closure on this issue. Itās time to move on and to learn to love sport and myself again. Everyone makes mistakes in their lives. Iām sure your viewers have done things they wish they hadnāt done. But itās how you come back from these mistakes which defines who you are. From now on, Iām going to live stronger. (Big hug). Hereās my momās recipe for Texas Style Bar-B-Q Spare Ribs. God Bless America.ā
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