Lance Armstrong has spoken about how he went about seeking contribution for his doping and bullying behaviour after being stripped of his Tour de France titles, writes Stephen Barry.
“This isn’t something people are going to forget about or move on from. People want an apology or a direct answer or some contrition. I welcome those opportunities,” said Armstrong, who will be speaking at the One-Zero Conference in Dublin later this month.
When asked if the seven Tour de France yellow jerseys, which were removed from the record books, were still on display in his house, he simply replied, “absolutely”.
Speaking to Ger Gilroy on Newstalk’s Off The Ball, Armstong said he has “travelled the world” to apologise to people he had wronged, although not all those apologies had been accepted.
“I’ve apologised multiple times (to Betsy Andreu). Here’s the thing, Ger, you’re a big boy, I’m a big boy, she’s a big girl. We’re all adults here. What I’ve learned is you can’t force someone to accept an apology.
“Whether it’s the Andreus, whether it’s the LeMonds, whether it’s Emma O’Reilly, whether it’s Christophe Bassons, I’ve travelled the world to make it right with these people.”
On three-time Tour champion Greg LeMond and his wife Kathy, Armstrong insisted that his apology was genuine.
“I sat in that room, not only with Greg and Kathy, but with his lawyer and with my lawyer, and there were plenty of other people in that room, and I apologised to them.
“Never at any time did Greg and/ or Kathy say ‘hey, we feel like you owe us financially’. I don’t need to get into the details of the conversation. The most important part is that I was sorry for my actions, I was embarrassed by my actions, I apologised to them and they accepted the apology.”
Armstrong added that he was a “complete dick” in his interaction with journalist Paul Kimmage at a 2010 press conference in California.
“Paul’s an interesting case because I had one interaction with Paul at the press conference in California. I didn’t handle it right.
“I’d love to, whether it’s in an interview or over a beer or whatever, I’d sit with Paul any time and say, ‘Hey, my bad. I’m sorry. I was a complete dick’.”
Armstrong added that he was “not surprised” by Bradley Wiggins’ use of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs): “Theoretically he was within the rules so there’s not much we can do about that.
“People ask me all the time about this stuff and I’d love to answer the question but I’m so detached from the sport… Nobody in the sport of cycling is going to talk to me. If they know something, I’m the last person that anybody is cycling is going to talk to about that stuff.”
