The portrayal of disgraced multi-millionaire cyclist Lance Armstrong on CBS’ 60 Minutes broadcast of Jan. 27 was that of one of the most despicable, calculating and evil men that ever lived.
Interviews with the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and Armstrong’s former teammates were shown. The head of the agency categorically rejected the statements made by Armstrong in his supposed “come clean” interview with the grande dame of daytime talk, Oprah Winfrey. He asserted that Armstrong attempted to make contributions to regulatory agencies as a bribe for them to ignore his impropriety. He stated that his pursuit of Armstrong has brought him threats through various means of communication, including from one individual that stated he would put a bullet in the head of the chief. This individual likened Armstrong’s activities to silence others to that of the Mafia.
The former teammate of Armstrong stated that after he testified truthfully to a grand jury about Armstrong’s impropriety, he encountered him at a bar, and that Armstrong told him, “I am going to make your life a (expletive) living hell.”
The head of the anti-doping agency has stated that Armstrong has until Feb. 6 to agree to be interviewed and tell “the whole truth and nothing but the truth”, and that if he does not, he will have to endure the lifetime ban from the sport originally dispensed. I wonder how there can be consideration under any circumstances of allowing an individual of Armstrong’s wretched ilk back into the sport that he savaged. The lifetime ban should remain in place regardless of what he does now. The cheating was the least of it!
