Cycling:In an interview with Oprah Winfrey that is scheduled for broadcast on her network this Thursday, Lance Armstrong confessed that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career, according to two people briefed on the interview, which was recorded last night in Austin, Texas. It is unclear, though, how forthcoming Armstrong was about his doping programme.
The US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) has said it was part of the most sophisticated, organised and professional doping scheme in the history of sports. Armstrong, when reached by email last night, said he could not discuss the interview.
Acknowledging his doping past has cleared the way for Armstrong to take the next step in trying to mitigate his lifetime ban from Olympic sports. He is planning to testify against several powerful people in the sport of cycling who knew about his doping and possibly facilitated it, said several people with knowledge of the situation.
Armstrong, 41, is planning to testify against officials from the International Cycling Union (UCI), the worldwide governing body of cycling, about their involvement with doping in cycling, but he will not testify against other riders, according to the people familiar with his plans.
He is also in discussions with the US Justice Department to possibly testify in a federal whistle-blower case. That case involves the cycling team sponsored by the US Postal Service, and Armstrong would testify against several of the team's owners, one person close to the situation said. That person did not want his name published because the case is still open.
Floyd Landis, one of Armstrong's former teammates, filed the whistle-blower case in 2010 against Armstrong and other principals of the Postal Service team on which he and Armstrong competed together for several years. Landis claimed the team defrauded the government because its riders used performance-enhancing drugs in violation of its sponsorship contract.
Now Armstrong and possibly his longtime agent, Bill Stapleton, are seeking to repay several million dollars of the more than $30 million the Postal Service spent sponsoring the team, as part of their cooperation as witnesses in the case, said the person with knowledge of the matter. (CBS News first reported Armstrong was in talks to return money to the Postal Service.) The Justice Department is considering whether to join the case as a plaintiff and is close to making that decision, the person said.
Armstrong, who for more than a decade vehemently denied doping, would be willing to testify against the cycling union officials and his former team's officials because he badly wants to compete in triathlons and running events again. Last autumn, he was barred from many of those events because they are sanctioned by organisations that follow the World Anti-Doping (Wada) code, the rules under which he is serving his lifetime ban. Armstrong said that lifetime ban was unfair.
He met with Usada officials, including Travis Tygart, the agency's chief executive, last month to discuss what he needed to do to mitigate his ban. Several people with knowledge of the discussions said Tygart would be willing to reduce Armstrong's punishment if Armstrong would testify against the people who helped him dope.
David Howman, director general of Wada, said in a telephone interview yesterday that he would not believe that Armstrong would testify in other cases to help clean up the sport until it happens. "This guy is an enigma and nobody really knows what he is going to do, no matter what he says," Howman said. "I think he's got his own demons to deal with, but nothing can be done about his lifetime ban when he hasn't done anything to help us yet."
Last autumn, Usada called Armstrong the kingpin of the doping scheme on his Tour de France winning teams when it made public evidence that he had doped and had encouraged his teammates to dope. During his interview with Winfrey, Armstrong rebutted the claim that he was a leader of the doping programme, saying he just did what his teammates were doing, according to the two people who did not want their names published because they are not authorised to speak about the interview.
Before heading to the Winfrey interview in Austin, Armstrong stopped at the headquarters of his cancer charity, Livestrong, and apologised to the staff. He told them he was sorry for letting everyone down and for putting so much stress on the organisation because of his doping scandal.
He did not confess to using performance-enhancing drugs, but spoke for about 20 minutes in the organisation's boardroom, eliciting tears from some of the employees, said Rae Bazzarre, a spokeswoman for Livestrong.
"It was emotional and he choked up for a moment," she said. "But we were all glad to see him." – New York Times Service