Be it an act of compassion or compunction, Lance Armstrong admitted in an interview this week, that he made bigger mistakes than just doping – mistreating others.
In an interview with Movember Radio host Adam Garone on Tuesday, the defrocked Tour de France champion, spoke about his attacks on people as being a mistake greater than his actual doping.
During the interview, Armstrong likened his upbringing to that of a “wild animal.”
“Understand that you may face some decisions in this sport, but, man, don’t ever isolate, attack, ostracize, incite another human being.”
Armstrong, who was raised by a single mother, added, “My mom and I had more of a brother-sister relationship … I never had that person that in my life — and I’m not making excuses — but nobody ever tapped me on the shoulder and said, Dude.
“I sort of raised myself. But nobody ever said, Dude, what I just saw. Never do that again. And so it is what it is. And I got to live with that and spend the rest of my life trying to make it right.”
On the surface, Armstrong’s admissions may come across being a case of self-realization, but to some, its more facade than it is genuine.
For example, Armstrong’s former teammates and close friend, Frankie Andreu, recently told the Business Insider, that to this day, the disgraced cyclist is still out to “wreck” him.
Andreu’s comment specifically refers to Armstrong’s latest testimony, wherein court records show, how he went on record saying, that Andreu “doped for the majority of his career” and “that is absolutely the truth.”
Andreu has been trying to rebuild his life and career, since being victimized by Armstrong’s attacks and allegations, along with the pallor that continues to hang over the heads of those riders implicated in the US Postal Service Team scandal.
“He just wants to bring me down. My testimony tells the truth. … It wasn’t until I was 29 when I took EPO, my last I year took nothing, and I retired at 33. That’s not a majority.
“Lance is always in attack mode … He is out to wreck me,” Andreu said.
During the podcast, listeners got hear Armstrong’s inner monologue, with regard to how he mistreated others such as Andreu, and what advice he’d give his younger self:
There are really two big mistakes that I made, in most people’s minds, everybody’s mind, and that was the doping and the treatment of others. I think as time goes on, more and more people understand that the doping just was what it was. It really was completely pervasive. And you really didn’t have a choice — well, you did have a choice: Your choice was to go home, which nobody took that choice. Everybody geared up and stayed. But all those people that made that first mistake, which now nobody cares about, none of them treated people like shit. None of them attacked another human being. None of them sued another human being. And I did all those things. So my words to an 18-year-old me would be, you know, Understand that you may face some decisions in this sport, but, man, don’t ever isolate, attack, ostracize, incite another human being. Because the doping isn’t — we’re not talking about this because I doped. We’re talking about all of this because of the way I treated other people. And that’s my mistake, and I own that. And I’ve spent the last three years trying to make amends with those people. And I mean the amends with the people that really got taken on. But the amends with the people I never even knew. I never attacked them. But these are people who — and again, it goes back to the most important word in all of this is ‘betrayal.’ So the people who have a tremendous sense of betrayal, that’s the walk I walk the rest of my life. And I have to now do that just because of the attitude that I had. I didn’t have, for whatever reason, I never had that person that in my life — and I’m not making excuses — but nobody ever tapped me on the shoulder and said, Dude. Like, whenever my son or any of my kids start getting out of line, I stop them and say, What the f*** are you doing? Like, Calm down. Stop. Don’t ever do that again. I grew up just sort as a — like a wild animal. My mom and I had more of a brother-sister relationship, and we sort of raised each other, therefore I sort of raised myself. But nobody ever said, Dude, what I just saw. Never do that again. And so it is what it is. And I got to live with that and spend the rest of my life trying to make it right.
There are really two big mistakes that I made, in most people’s minds, everybody’s mind, and that was the doping and the treatment of others. I think as time goes on, more and more people understand that the doping just was what it was. It really was completely pervasive. And you really didn’t have a choice — well, you did have a choice: Your choice was to go home, which nobody took that choice. Everybody geared up and stayed.
But all those people that made that first mistake, which now nobody cares about, none of them treated people like shit. None of them attacked another human being. None of them sued another human being. And I did all those things. So my words to an 18-year-old me would be, you know, Understand that you may face some decisions in this sport, but, man, don’t ever isolate, attack, ostracize, incite another human being. Because the doping isn’t — we’re not talking about this because I doped. We’re talking about all of this because of the way I treated other people. And that’s my mistake, and I own that. And I’ve spent the last three years trying to make amends with those people. And I mean the amends with the people that really got taken on. But the amends with the people I never even knew. I never attacked them. But these are people who — and again, it goes back to the most important word in all of this is ‘betrayal.’ So the people who have a tremendous sense of betrayal, that’s the walk I walk the rest of my life.
And I have to now do that just because of the attitude that I had. I didn’t have, for whatever reason, I never had that person that in my life — and I’m not making excuses — but nobody ever tapped me on the shoulder and said, Dude. Like, whenever my son or any of my kids start getting out of line, I stop them and say, What the f*** are you doing? Like, Calm down. Stop. Don’t ever do that again. I grew up just sort as a — like a wild animal. My mom and I had more of a brother-sister relationship, and we sort of raised each other, therefore I sort of raised myself. But nobody ever said, Dude, what I just saw. Never do that again. And so it is what it is. And I got to live with that and spend the rest of my life trying to make it right.
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