Armstrong: Life ‘sucks’ since ban
Disgraced former cyclist Lance Armstrong said he’ll spend the ‘‘rest of his life’’ trying to make amends to the people he let down and who view him as a fraud after publicly admitting to blood doping six years ago.
Armstrong also said the last six years of his life have ‘‘really sucked’’ as he’s dealt with the fallout.
‘‘It’s been terrible,’’ Armstrong said in a Today show interview that aired yesterday.
Armstrong was banned from competitive sanctioned cycling for life in 2012 and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, which he won from 1999 to 2005.
He publicly denied ever doping for more than a decade before admitting to an extensive use of performance-enhancing drugs in a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
‘‘That interview came at an interesting time, at a difficult time, and in a lot of ways maybe came too soon,’’ Armstrong said of coming clean to Oprah.
‘‘I don’t think it worked. I think it absolutely did not work. For half of the room, it wasn’t enough. Then for the other half of the room, it was way too much.’’
Armstrong, a cancer survivor, centred his remorse around those he lied to within the Livestrong community. The non-profit foundation was formed by Armstrong in 1997 to raise funds in the fight against cancer.
‘‘Fraud, betrayal, all of those things that we know people felt, that’s on me,’’ Armstrong said, adding he’ll go the rest of his life ‘‘trying to make that right’’.
Armstrong maintained a long-time stance that his doping was part of a larger scheme in cycling and that he’s been cast as the scapegoat.
‘‘What I would rather do is go back and win seven [Tours] in a row against everyone else who’s drinking water and eating bread,’’ Armstrong said. ‘‘That’s what I would want. That’s what I believe would happen.’’
In the interview yesterday, Armstrong was asked about a tweet from six years ago in which now US president Donald Trump criticised him and said he’d be remembered as a failure.
To that, Armstrong replied: ‘‘This was six years ago. Donald Trump was just a loud-mouth out trying to get attention. He’s half right. He’s going to cost himself a lot of money.
‘‘We know that happened. And a lifetime of failure. But I don’t feel like a failure. And I’ve never felt like a failure since then.’’
Armstrong reiterated a point he made earlier this summer in which he questioned why former baseball star Alex Rodriquez was publicly forgiven much more after being suspended for a season for using PEDs.
Armstrong said: ‘‘A-Rod didn’t raise half a billion dollars and try to save a bunch of people’s lives. That’s the irony in this.’’ – USA Today