Disgraced cyclist to address accusations of cheating and usage of performance-enhancing drugs in a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey
Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong will discuss the doping scandal that dramatically brought down his stel Xlar career during an interview with Oprah Winfrey next week.
The famed talk show host said a 90-minute special episode would address “years of accusations of cheating, and charges of lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs” throughout Armstrong’s “storied cycling career.”
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The interview will be Armstrong’s first since being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles last year and will air on the Oprah Winfrey Network. It will also be streamed live on her website, a publicity statement said.
Last week, The New York Times reported that Armstrong, 41, was considering publicly admitting that he used banned performance-enhancing drugs, in an apparent bid to return to competitive sport in marathons and triathlons.
“Looking forward to this conversation with @lancearmstrong,” Winfrey posted on her Twitter site on Tuesday. Armstrong re-tweeted the comment 15 minutes later.
In the interview, to be shown in a primetime slot next Thursday, January 17, Winfrey will speak with Armstrong at his home in Austin, Texas.
Before the ban, Armstrong was competing in triathlons, and his Twitter feed is full of posts about his continued biking, swimming and runs.
His tweets also make clear he is following the media storm surrounding his fall from grace — and that he has not always been pleased with how the case has been portrayed.
“It took a ‘photographer’ to ‘write’ the most balanced piece we’ve seen yet,” Armstrong wrote on January 2, linking to an essay by cycling photographer Graham Watson.
Watson wrote, in part, “Outright angels do not win a Tour de France.”
“Lance did what he had to do to win, and he clearly did it very well. If he cheated, he cheated the other cheats of that era, even if by doing so he also cheated an adoring public.”
Armstrong has vehemently denied doping and it is not known if he will admit to doping on Winfrey’s show.
The show used words like “no-holds-barred interview” but also “alleged doping scandal,” “accusations of cheating” and “charges of lying” in its publicity statement.
The announcement came on the same day that “60 Minutes” said US Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart told them in an interview to be aired yesterday that Armstrong attempted to donate around $250,000 to the agency.
Tygart said he was bowled over by the “totally inappropriate” donation offer from one of Armstrong’s representatives in 2004, which he immediately refused.
“I was stunned,” Tygart said in the interview.
“It was a clear conflict of interest for USADA. We had no hesitation in rejecting that offer,” he added.
Tygart declined to comment on Armstrong’s decision to go on Winfrey’s show.
Tygart, who described Armstrong’s heavy-handed tactics as being similar to the “Mafia”, denounced a $100,000 donation Armstrong made previously to the International Cycling Union (UCI).
But Armstrong’s lawyer, Tim Herman, told USA Today that there was never a donation attempt from the cyclist.
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