Lance live with Larry
In a CNN exclusive interview tonight at 9 pm ET, Larry King will be joined by Bob Costas as they quiz Lance Armstrong about charges that he used banned substances to win the Tour de France in 1999. Meanwhile, speaking to a small group of reporters from a hotel in Washington, DC, the Texan defended himself against the latest accusations by the French media, first reported in the sports daily, L'Equipe.
THE FRENCH "You know my history with the French. You know my history with the French media, the French Ministry of Sport, the organizers, the labs, the prosecutors, the police, etc. It has been a witch hunt. That was not just a catch phrase to put in the press release to be at the headline. I think all of us are smart enough to know that this has been going on for a long time, close to a decade."
THE PAPER L'Equipe has changed their position towards cycling, I think, in the last 6-12 months and they've taken a very aggressive, sensational approach. Obviously, this is great business for them. Unfortunately, I'm caught in the cross hairs. As we know, it could be potentially a much deeper issue between the UCI and the Tour de France with regards to the ProTour. It could be a much deeper issue with regards to certain people and their votes towards who won the Olympic bid for summer of 2012, etc., etc."
THE TIMING "I suppose they would have much preferred to have done this either at the start of the Tour or in the middle of the Tour and for whatever reason, they were delayed. That's the peak season for them in terms of selling papers. At the end of the day, that's what I think this is all about. This is an opportunity to sell a ton of papers. You devote an entire front page for days after days after days. You give it four of five pages of absolutely biased reporting and it sells."
THE SAMPLES "Truth on my side, I know what happened and what I have, this is not the only six or eight or 10 samples ever given. You're talking about 300 samples. If you can show me another athlete that's been more drug tested in his life, please do. And you know what? People are going to come along and compare this to Rafeal Palmeiro or somebody else, well guess what? I've got two things to say to that — 'A' and a 'B' sample. You either defend yourself or you don't. And in this situation... how could I defend myself in this position other than say this is absolutely crazy? They talk about six samples being positive. As we all can go back and do the math from 1999, there were more samples given than that. Where did they all go? And who are the other athletes? Why is it just me? If you're going to name one guy, aren't you naming the other 15 that they reportedly found? Does that sound fishy?"
THE LAW "Right now, we're considering all our options. As you all know, we have a few cases going on. We're on top of those, we're confident we're going to win those, we're absolutely going to win those. Do we want another one? Who do you take action against in this case? Is it WADA? Is it the Ministry? Is it L'Equipe? Is it the laboratory? Who is it? They're all at fault there. Ultimately, yeah, if you do have a trial you get to the bottom of it and you find out who sabotaged the process and you find out who leaked the details. But, in the meantime, it costs you a million, a million and a half dollars, costs you a couple years of your life.
Sports Illustrated is running a composite of the press conference based on the AP report. The Rainy Day hunch is that Lance won't go to law with the piss artists and sleaze merchants on the Seine. Why bother? Anyone who's had cancer knows that every day after recovery is a precious gift and must not be wasted. It was good of him, though, to throw in the bit about the French harbouring spite about losing the 2012 Olympics to London. That's provocative. Lance is a fighter.
Comments
It is highly doubtful that a glycoprotien such as EPO could be detected in a urine sample that is six years old. Even if the French have a test that works on fresh samples, unless their lab has six-year-old control samples to work against the results won't be valid.
Posted by: A. Doctor | August 25, 2005 8:29 PM