Armstrong pedalled to his scandal through power struggle

Lance Armstrong (Image: The Leaf Chronicle)

It was a two-and-a-half hour interview which captured the attention of millions around the world as cyclist Lance Armstrong has finally told us his accounts of using performance-enhanced drugs while winning a historical seven consecutive Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005. He openly apologised to the people he lied to - the spectators, and those he took money from after they wanted to spill the beans during his hey-day.

Armstrong was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey - who herself is a history-maker by having an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for the film "The Color Purple", presenting the most popular talk show for 25 years and is considered to be one of the most powerful women in the world. She had a relatively difficult childhood and managed to turn it around, so much so, that the poverty she lived with at the start of her life was to be reverted as by the end of the 20th Century, she became the richest African American.

Winfrey was initially heavily criticised for being the chosen one to interview Armstrong. Some feared she lacked knowledge of what was going on, prestige in any given situation, seriousness after spending years having banter with celebrities and that certain power to dominate Lance. Those fears were immediately turned to praises, she overcame the criticisms and people congratulated her courage. Although she didn't necessarily dominate the former cyclist, she didn't need to. She is experienced and dealt with celebrity confessions for years - this interview was textbook for her but I feel this has to be her career highlight, especially as she sealed the interview for her television network OWN.

How did Lance perform, it is fair to say he saw this coming. He knew this scandal spiralled out of control and only he could draw the line on it. People questioned his motives for coming out on television and accused him of attention seeking during the most sensitive time in cycling because of this drug scandal. However, I think otherwise. Lance had a choice, either he would have gone hiding and we wouldn't have heard from him in years and we would despise him for not speaking out - or go on television, confess all and co-operate in a way he'd never done before in his professional career. It takes a lot for someone who was most loved, to the most hated to speak of their life at present. Jimmy Savile committed 450 times worse of a crime for 40 years longer than the time Armstrong committed his sporting crime, yet got away with it for all this time, with no remorse. As unpopular as this sounds to you, but Lance showed a lot of courage to reveal all in a television interview.

Oprah Winfrey (Image: Blog Babble)

I mentioned earlier that Oprah Winfrey came a long way to be where she is today - that was Lance Armstrong's initiative too. After suffering from multiple cancers and dodging death, he wanted to further this legacy by becoming successful in cycling. He was a decent cyclist before his cancer diagnoses but he wanted to be more than that. He wanted to be remembered in such a way that everyone else can be inspired. To be honest, having any sort of comeback would have been remarkable, even if Lance didn't finish in the top 50 at any stage of his seven Tour de France victories. Armstrong wanted a fresh start but at 27 (in summer 1999), there was this sense of naivety and urge to win - he would do anything to get what he wanted. After dodging death multiple times, he felt invincible.

Feeling invincible and having the urge to thrive is ideal for a lot of people who have a power struggle, such as Lance Armstrong in the late 1990s. He was introduced and became friends with people, who would also do anything to succeed, even if it meant breaking certain rules and getting away with it. After winning the Tour de France in 1999 doing just that, and receiving multi-million pound sponsorship deals and huge amount of praises, they knew their plans were working and when Lance kept winning until 2005, the American decided to stop cycling in case if someone noticed. Well, someone eventually meant the whole world and now, those seven gongs have been taken off him.

That's where the naivety comes in. We believe we were in denial over Armstrong's success a decade ago but let's be honest, so was he. To think he would get away with such scandal for so many years, even with the millions worth of sponsorship deals and power he had gained - he was clearly in denial. He should have realised if you are right at the top, there is only one place you would be heading. Oprah did everything her way too and had nothing to lose but now she's no longer at her peak. She is heading downwards, gracefully, noticeably, yet respectfully. But she is far more mature than Lance.

Reaching the bottom point of your life can only mean the things you love go down with you. Lance Armstrong, because he had overcome cancer, he opened the charity "LiveStrong" which supports people through tough times and helps the extraordinary live 'normal' lives after having the ability to combat cancer. Because of what happened to Armstrong in recent months, the charity has come under fire. He confessed the charity was like his sixth child - he has five children. So when he resigned as CEO, then soon afterwards left the organisation all together, it was obviously going to be difficult for him. The charity thrived under Lance's leadership.

The charity became a path of protecting those who suffered from cancer but since the recent revelations, LiveStrong is now considered a crafty PR stunt so people could distract themselves from Armstrong's wrongdoings. Now he's disassociated himself from LiveStrong, it's up to the charity to inspire people. Doing this is difficult but Armstrong has to treat this as if he's taken his "sixth child" for adoption and not tell that "sixth child" in question that it's about to be fostered. BSkyB seems t overcome their recent challenged, even if Rupert Murdoch is still in power of News Corporation so why write off LiveStrong? I'm confident they can come up with something. A lot of people have overcome remarkable challenges like Lance, apart from the cheating bit, and are capable to become ambassadors for a terrific and unique organisation.

Unlike everyone else, I cannot bring myself into disliking Lance Armstrong. Even though he used drugs to win races, for the races he didn't, he still did very well. At the Tour de France 2010, he finished third. He insists he didn't take any drugs then and I believe him. I felt he told the truth during his interrogation by Oprah and that he will stick to his word by keeping out of the limelight. I realise he wants to compete again but he needs to wait. He has been sanctioned and cannot compete at any sport by law and punishment but I think that this would be reversed in a few years. I feel he would financially apologise to those he lied and sued in the past - if that would make any difference, it's up to the individuals involved but if he did do it, this might change the perception of Lance from others.

The current situation of cycling is good and even back in the Lance days - people still watched it and enjoyed the drama with such enthusiasm. Nobody should be betrayed by what Lance did other than Lance himself. He only has himself to blame and has to live with the lies he made for too many years. The sport will only recover if the fans and competitors recover. To insist cycling is "clean" in every TV broadcast only indicates it isn't. It's best to forget the Tour de Frances between 1999 and 2005, and move on.

RECOMMENDED: Read this post from a LiveStrong campaigner about Lance Armstrong.