Why is Armstrong confessing?
Roar Rookie 
Lance Armstrong will be questioned by Oprah (Image: AFP)
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Armstrong is reported to have confessed to Oprah Winfrey during their interview which will be aired on Thursday in America. This may be all good, and help cycling move on, but we can’t overlook the reasons as to why he is doing it or the outcomes from it.
Why is he doing it? Well I believe Armstrong is doing it purely for personal reasons. He wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t going to be beneficial to him.
Now how can Armstrong confess after denying it for so long? And, after calling the whole case against him “lies and a witch hunt”, how can this be beneficial to him?
It is going to cost Armstrong millions of dollars as he gets sued by this, that and every other company that has ever given him money. The Sunday Times is already suing Armstrong for $1.6 million.
But it isn’t just Armstrong being sued that he has to worry about. He is also likely to have to face court and have the federal investigation reopened, in which case he could have jail time.
So why is Armstrong confessing? It doesn’t seem to make sense. A lot of reports suggest that he is doing it to get a reduced sentence so that he will be able to compete in Iron Man Triathlons.
But what use is having a reduced sentence when you’re going to be so busy in court?
Now I can’t quite work out what personal reasons he might have, unless someone at the UCI has annoyed him. If that is the case, he may well be aiming at taking them down with him.
It would be the best result for cycling if that happened. If Armstrong came out and confessed everything. How he got around the systems. How the UCI is implicit and even helped him.
Doing that would cause a major rebuilding of the UCI from the ground upwards, allowing for stronger doping standards and stricter anti-corruption measures.
It would be a whole new beginning for cycling.
But it can’t stop at the UCI. It should also force some others out of the sport of professional cycling that have strong links to doping. People like Bjarne Riis. People who have strong links to doping and aren’t doing anything for the good of the sport.
Remove the rotten apples and cycling can be rebuilt and regain a clean image. There are a lot of honest young guys being guided by the right hands coming through, and hopefully they can enjoy a clean, even sport, without being constantly suspected of cheating.
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- Cycling, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France
January 16th 2013 @ 8:46am
josh said | January 16th 2013 @ 8:46am | Report comment
From the media reports today. It appears to be a case yes I did take PEDs, but so did every other Tom Dick and Harry and the UCI covered it all up!
It’s all crafted to make him not appear like a totalitarian.
January 16th 2013 @ 9:38am
Harry said | January 16th 2013 @ 9:38am | Report comment
Whats the bet we’ll get “I’m more a victim than a villian” … fairly sickening.
January 16th 2013 @ 9:03am
Harry said | January 16th 2013 @ 9:03am | Report comment
1) Damage Limitation.
2) Attempt to protect his fortune and rebuild it at a later date.
3) Advised to do this by his “expert counsel” who see the best way to keep their personal gravy train going is to keep Lance in the public eye, and keep up the delusion in Lance’s little world.
4) Egomania – being the centre of attention, no matter how odious is better than being ignored.
5) Knows that an Oprah interview is as soft as a Tahs training camp.
January 16th 2013 @ 9:56am
jameswm said | January 16th 2013 @ 9:56am | Report comment
Harry on point 5 – I’d agree, until this year from the reports I’ve heard.
January 16th 2013 @ 10:10am
sheek said | January 16th 2013 @ 10:10am | Report comment
By all accounts,
Armstrong has confessed to barely anything. It’s like fingers around the sinkhole stuff – on the periphery, no plunging deep.
January 16th 2013 @ 10:55am
Garcia said | January 16th 2013 @ 10:55am | Report comment
He looks like such a D*uche bag looking back at all those times he got so irate about people asking him if he doped
January 16th 2013 @ 10:57am
Rabbitz said | January 16th 2013 @ 10:57am | Report comment
According to a report on ABC Radio this A.M. Dick Pound (gee what an unfortunate name) from the IOC has said that if Armstrong’s “confession” and “whistle blowing” extend to showing that the UCI systematically covered up doping then the IOC will have no choice but to dump cycling from the Olympic program.
I guess if Armstrong is doing this to protect himself, the cycling in general may be caught in the cross-fire and become “collateral damage” in the war against doping.
January 16th 2013 @ 1:35pm
Lee Rodgers said | January 16th 2013 @ 1:35pm | Report comment
One of the main reasons (if not the only reason) for this ‘admission’ is the so-called ‘whistleblower suit’ that is being brought against Lance by Floyd Landis (hence the media reports that LA is trying to make things up with Floyd again). That suit claims that LA defrauded US tax payers when he was on the US Postal team, as he used the $ to cheat and also is alleged to have sold of team equipment to fund the doping program.
That sponsorship was worth $10 million a year. Times that by 5 and that would put quite a dent in Lance’s wallet, which is worth a reputed $100 million. The danger for LA though is the fact that the US government is thinking of joining the suit against him. If that happens, the chance of the suit being successful is much higher.
If LA admits a few details of doping, he loses a million here, maybe 5 there, but nothing like as much as he could lose if Landis’s kicks his ass in court.
This about turn is all about limiting the amount he has to pay. Yet again he is showing himself to be adept at working the numbers, and the masses.
Nice piece by the way, Andy, cheers!
January 16th 2013 @ 4:13pm
Andy said | January 16th 2013 @ 4:13pm | Report comment
I believe that confessing will only make that issue worse, and that he will still end up paying 50+ Million. Landis is smart though to as he can get up to 30% of what is paid in the suit. So if he gets the government joining, he will get a lot of money.
January 16th 2013 @ 10:17pm
Lee Rodgers said | January 16th 2013 @ 10:17pm | Report comment
Not sure, I think he figures he can get a lot of America on his side, then the government may be less keen to join in. Either way, ugh, he’s a sneaky one isn’t he…
January 17th 2013 @ 5:26pm
sittingbison said | January 17th 2013 @ 5:26pm | Report comment
reports are Department of Justice has recommended joining the case after rejecting the $5m offered.
And because its a federal fraud case, the amounts are tripled, so the $30m the USPS gave Tailwind equates to $100m. They will settle for less obviously, but he still faces ruin.
January 16th 2013 @ 4:13pm
Jason Cave said | January 16th 2013 @ 4:13pm | Report comment
I think Oprah Winfrey was the wrong choice for Lance Armstrong for his interview.
It would’ve been much better if the interview was done by ie Barbara Walters, or if you’re looking for someone to actually get a confession out of Armstrong, well-known British TV interviewer Sir David Frost.
After all, if Frost could make former US President Richard Nixon confess about his invovlement in the Watergate scandal in 1978, 4 years after Nixon resigned from office, then Frost would’ve been the ideal interviewer to get Lance Armstrong to confess about his drug use.
January 16th 2013 @ 10:18pm
Lee Rodgers said | January 16th 2013 @ 10:18pm | Report comment
I think he wanted soft as possible. Rumor has it he originally wanted Elmo but his fee was too high…
January 16th 2013 @ 11:24pm
Dadiggle said | January 16th 2013 @ 11:24pm | Report comment
Cause Oprah is throwing enough money at him?
January 17th 2013 @ 2:04pm
apaway said | January 17th 2013 @ 2:04pm | Report comment
Dadiggle
Exactly! Armstrong will be paid a motza to do the interview with Oprah, and that will fund the inevitable court battles he will face in the years to come. The man is a cheat but by no means an idiot. He backed off from defending himself when the case against him became insurmountable. He then looked for a forum to tell his story and get a hefty appearance fee – hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Oprah has agreed to fund his defence when the Feds come calling, first of all on Perjury charges and then on a whole litany of doping and supply charges. I can just hear the conversations now: “This will go better on you, Mr Armstrong if you reveal the architects behind this sophisticated and highly illegal operation…”
January 17th 2013 @ 3:12pm
Dadiggle said | January 17th 2013 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
Can we really trust the Americans after all what has happened the last 10 years especially in the development of undetected drugs? We know the drugs will always be a step ahead of the testing methods as they need to reverse engineer it first.
I can remember the Olympics going after the Chinese swimmers and cherry picking results to back up some of the nonsense their spurt. I know Michael Phelps got double jointed wrists which gives him that advantage.
Now my question is what about Castor Semanya who’s body was producing testosterone naturaly and is forced by the World Governingbody to take drugs to basically slow her down. She is not doping she just have a advantage which she was born with like Phelps.
January 17th 2013 @ 5:29pm
sittingbison said | January 17th 2013 @ 5:29pm | Report comment
dadiggle you misread the reports about Phelps. It said he had double joints