The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Armstrong says 'sorry,' calls doping a 'mistake'
- Three share lead at Humana Challenge
- Tour de France organiser: Armstrong 'in the past'
| Armstrong says 'sorry,' calls doping a 'mistake' Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:01 PM PST LOS ANGELES: Disgraced US cycling star Lance Armstrong said in an interview broadcast Thursday that he was "sorry" for taking performance-enhancing drugs during his career and that it was a mistake. "I made my decisions. They're my mistake. And I'm sitting here today to acknowledge that and to say I'm sorry for that," the seven-time Tour de France winner said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. "The culture was what it was." "I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times," Armstrong said, admitting that he was a "flawed character." "All the fault and all the blame here falls on me," he said. Armstrong, after years of denials, acknowledged in the interview taped on Monday that he took several banned performance enhancing substances during his cycling career. Armstrong said he had blood transfusions and taken EPO, testosterone, cortisone and human growth hormone in all seven of his Tour de France victories. - AFP |
| Three share lead at Humana Challenge Posted: 17 Jan 2013 06:16 PM PST LA QUINTA (California): Roberto Castro, Jason Kokrak, and US PGA Tour rookie James Hahn all shot nine-under par 63 on Thursday to share a one-stroke lead after the first round of the US$5.6mil Humana Challenge. Rookie Russell Henley, coming off a three-stroke win in the Sony Open on Sunday, was among the quartet of players lying one stroke back on eight-under 64. He was tied with Australians Greg Chalmers and Aaron Baddeley and Dough LaBelle. Phil Mickelson launched his 2013 season with an inconsistent round of even-par 72 that left him nine off the pace. Mickelson, recovering from flu-like symptoms, had three birdies, one bogey and a double-bogey at La Quinta Country Club, one of three courses used in the tournament in which the opening rounds are played in a pro-am format. Kokrak had two eagles and five birdies at La Quinta. Castro had nine birdies at PGA West's Jack Nicklaus Private Course and Hahn had nine birdies on PGA West's Arnold Palmer Private Course. "The course over at La Quinta is in great shape," Kokrak said. "Greens are not overly fast, so you can be somewhat aggressive out there. The greens are holding. So you can be aggressive with the iron shots out there." Castro capped his round with a birdie putt of more than 40 feet. He was pleased he was able to take advantage of the good scoring conditions offered in the balmy California desert. "This tournament you kind of got to get it going and keep it going," he said. Hahn's round included two chip-ins for birdies, something he said hadn't happened for him since he was nine years old. He said not knowing the course was actually an advantage. "I think a lot of the times, we as professionals, try to take in too much information," he said. "Some of my best rounds have come from not even seeing a golf course for the first time. It gives me tunnel vision ... I just know fairway, green and try to make a putt." Henley posted his 64 on the Nicklaus course. "I'm feeling very confident," Henley said. "I definitely wasn't going to be upset either way ... The last thing I want to do is waste any energy and be emotional right now. I think I've got to conserve all my emotions and my energy as much as I can so I can play another full golf tournament." - AFP |
| Tour de France organiser: Armstrong 'in the past' Posted: 17 Jan 2013 06:25 PM PST LEEDS (Britain): Tour de France organiser Christian Prudhomme said Thursday that disgraced rider Lance Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour titles because of doping, "was already in the past". Prudhomme added that it was a surprise that Armstrong had given a television interview, to be broadcast at 02h00 GMT on Friday, in which he reportedly admitted doping. "No one could have imagined only a few weeks ago that Lance Armstrong would make his confession publicly, that he would confess in public to having been doped," he said. "It's obviously something very important but I can't say more than that, I don't know more than you. I don't know what he'll say. For us, Lance Armstrong is already in the past." The International Cycling Union (UCI) late last year effectively erased Armstrong from the cycling history books when it decided not to appeal sanctions imposed on the Texan rider by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). A damning USADA report, including hundreds of pages of eyewitness testimony, emails, financial records and laboratory analysis of blood samples, said Armstrong helped orchestrate the most sophisticated doping programme in the history of sport. In his first interview since Armstrong was shorn of his Tour titles, recorded Monday with Oprah Winfrey, the US television icon said she believed "the most important questions" were asked and that Armstrong provided answers "that people around the world have been waiting to hear". Armstrong's choice of Winfrey as a confessor is a stunning reversal for a man who was notoriously aggressive in denying doping accusations for more than a decade, vilifying those who challenged him. "The Tour de France has been getting better for several years now," added Prudhomme when asked about the race's history of drug scandals. "What is going on at the moment is part of the past. "We are starting with a clean slate and we have to get to the end of that slate. It's not just a subject that affects cycling. This is something that affects many other sports as well. Prudhomme, speaking in Leeds as he announced the start dates for the 2014 Tour de France, added: "Although this has all happened in the past 20 years, we are looking forward to the future when things will be much cleaner, bearing in mind this is something that affects other sports. "Cycling has without doubt cheated a lot in the past without any doubt. But for several years now it has made enormous efforts in this struggle and we need to continue those efforts." - AFP |
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