Armstrong confession not enough: anti-doping chief

MONTREAL, Canada – Lance Armstrong must confess to doping under oath and aid the fight against cheating if he hopes to mitigate his life ban, World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman said Tuesday, January 15.

US talk show host Oprah Winfrey confirmed on Tuesday that the fallen cycling icon “came clean” on his use of performance enhancing drugs in an interview taped at his Austin, Texas, home on Monday, January 14.

The interview is to air in two parts on Winfrey’s OWN cable network on Thursday, January 17 and Friday, January 18.

“WADA has read with interest media reports suggesting a television ‘confession’ made by Lance Armstrong,” Howman said in a statement.

“While WADA encourages all athletes to come clean about any doping activities they have been involved with or know about, these details must be passed on to the relevant anti-doping authorities.”

Armstrong lost his record seven Tour de France titles along with most of his other cycling achievements when the International Cycling Union (UCI) upheld the life ban meted out by the US Anti-Doping Agency last year.

The 41-year-old reportedly hopes a public confession could open the door to a return to competitive sport in marathons and triathlons.

“Only when Mr. Armstrong makes a full confession under oath — and tells the anti-doping authorities all he knows about doping activities — can any legal and proper process for him to seek any reopening or reconsideration of his lifetime ban commence,” Howman said.

Unedited interview

Winfrey told “CBS This Morning” that the two-and-a-half-hour interview will be aired unedited over two nights from Thursday. Originally, a shorter broadcast was planned for one night only.

“I didn’t get all the questions asked, but I think the most important questions and the answers that people around the world have been waiting to hear were answered,” Winfrey said.

“I can only say I was satisfied by the answers.”

The interview is Armstrong’s first since he was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles after the US Anti-Doping Agency, in a 1,000-page report, put him at the heart of the greatest doping scandal in the annals of cycling.

For a decade he had vigorously denied using banned substances to win his way into the history books.

Prior to sitting down with Winfrey in a hotel suite in his hometown of Austin, Texas on Monday, Armstrong, 41, went to the offices of Livestrong, the cancer charity he founded in 1997, and apologized in person to its staff.

“Lance came to the Livestrong Foundation’s headquarters (and) offered a sincere and heartfelt apology for the stress they’ve endured because of him,” Livestrong spokeswoman Rae Bazzarre told AFP.

‘Biggest interview ever’

Speaking from Chicago, Winfrey — when asked if Armstrong had “come clean” to her — said she and Armstrong had agreed at the outset not to talk about the content of the interview prior to its broadcast.

But a source in the Armstrong camp with knowledge of the interview confirmed to AFP that the Texan admitted to Winfrey using banned substances in his career.

“And then, by the time I left Austin and landed in Chicago, you (the news media) all had already confirmed it,” she told “CBS This Morning,” a breakfast news program.

“So I’m like, ‘How did you all do that?’ We all agreed that we weren’t going to say anything.”

Winfrey, 58, said she went into “the biggest interview I’ve ever done” with 112 questions, and grilled Armstrong so intensely that, during a break at the 100-minute mark, Armstrong asked if their conversation might lighten up.

With a world-class scoop on her hands, Winfrey flew home to Chicago with the video tape in her handbag “along with my dog food” for fear it might be pilfered if beamed back to the editing room via satellite.

“I would say he did not come clean in the manner that I expected,” she added. “It was surprising to me. I would say that for myself, my team, all of us in the room, we were mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers.”

“I felt that he was thoughtful. I thought that he was serious…. I would say that he met the moment.”

Reactions

In Lausanne, Switzerland, cycling’s world governing body, the International Cycling Union, called for Armstrong to give evidence to its ongoing investigation into widespread doping in the wake of his Winfrey interview.

Elsewhere, the South Australian state government said it would be “more than happy” for Armstrong to repay his appearance money from the Tour Down Under event, but it had no legal power to make him do so.

Armstrong took part in the event for three years running from 2009, raising cycling’s profile and boosting participation by amateur riders. He was reportedly paid millions of dollars to appear.- Rappler.com