Armstrong Has Damaged All Sports, Not Just Cycling Says Federer

[RANGA+ 1,210]

Roger Federer has expressed his sadness at American cyclist Lance Armstrong's admission that he cheated his way to seven Tour de France wins and believes it will have a negative impact on all sport.

 

Armstrong confessed in a televised interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey this week to using banned performance-enhancing substances to establish himself as one of the biggest names in sport.

 

'What a sad story,' 17-times grand-slam winner Federer said after reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open. 'I don't know what to say. It just really saddens me to see that someone did this for such a long time.

 

 

'Obviously he's hurt his sport in a big way, even though he helped it in the beginning. But now the burden they live under, all other sports maybe as well.

 

'I'm an active athlete right now and it's not fun times really to be in sports to a degree. I guess all I needed to see was the first few minutes of the interview and then I knew what was the deal, and the rest I don't really care. It's just very saddening this story, to be honest.'

 

 

Serena Williams, who has won 15 grand slam titles, earlier admitted she had been 'glued' to the televised confessional. 'I think as an athlete, as someone that works really, really hard since I was four or three, I think it's a sad day for all athletes in general,' the American said.

 

'But I think overall it's even more disappointing for the people that were adversely affected through everything. You can only just hope for the best for them. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people now look and are like, okay, if somebody that great (has been cheating) what about everyone else in every other sport?'

 

 

I think they raise a valid point. Doping is clearly a widespread phenomenon across professional sports, and now a lot of people will be questioning things that were taken for granted before.

 

But with that said, at least Lance had the ball to finally come out and confess.

Edited January 20, 2013 by RANGA

[BwareDWare94 723]

I'm less concerned with the doping than I am with the way Lance treated other people while this was all going on. Be great at something or not, you don't get to treat people like shit. I'm much more horrified by his overall lack of humanity than I am by whatever the fuck he chose to put in his body.

[Guest Phailadelphia]

BREAKING: MOST PRO ATHLETES USE BANNED SUBSTANCES. ALSO RELATED: SKY BLUE, GRASS GREEN. STAY TUNED FOR MORE.

[Maverick 791]

I'm less concerned with the doping than I am with the way Lance treated other people while this was all going on. Be great at something or not, you don't get to treat people like shit. I'm much more horrified by his overall lack of humanity than I am by whatever the fuck he chose to put in his body.

 

 

Guy's a scumbag with a capital S.

[Kaep'tain+ 18]

Can I return livestrong stuff for him being a fraud? He should have to repay everyone who bought into his funding bullshit.

[oochymp 2,393]

http://www.sportspickle.com/opinion/15195/comprehensive-list-of-1990s-sports-figures-not-tainted-by-steroids-or-scandal

[Thanatos 2,847]

I think they raise a valid point. Doping is clearly a widespread phenomenon across professional sports, and now a lot of people will be questioning things that were taken for granted before.

 

But with that said, at least Lance had the ball to finally come out and confess.

 

He only came out and confessed because they finally had him.

 

And like Bware said, the way he treated everyone else is what sticks with me. All those people who accused him of doping, (and were correct), and I believe he sued some of them for libel, he's just a scumbag through and through. This will definitely hurt his own cancer organization, Livestrong, as well, which is a shame, but that is all Lance's fault.

[oochymp 2,393]

This will definitely hurt his own cancer organization, Livestrong, as well, which is a shame, but that is all Lance's fault.

I'm really not sure about that, he's no longer directly involved so I think Livestrong will be able to distance themselves enough, and when it comes down to it, yes he did steroids to win seven Tours de France, but he still survived cancer and that alone is pretty inspirational to a lot of people, I think when the dust settles Livestrong will be fine

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Bware actually said something I agree with, what a shocker!

 

I don't really care about the performance enhancers. Cycling is such a dirty sport I would be surprised if anyone was clean. It doesn't make it any better because he sure fooled me, and I defended him fairly adamantly. I kind of view it like I do the Roid era in baseball. So many guys were on it that I still have to give him props for being so great, even if he had help.

 

His entire team practically was juicing for a fact.. yet none of them could win until he retired.

 

I have more of a problem with just how big of a douche he acted all the time. I could make excuses for him before because everyone was coming after him and looking to bring him down (doesn't make his actions right, but more understandable anyway)... He treated A LOT of people VERY VERY poorly and in the end it was all to perpetuate lies. Disgraceful.

 

LiveStrong has been stashing cash away for something like this. They claim it was to prepare for the bad economy, but I have to believe it was for something bigger. They have enough stowed away that even with the negative pub and reduced donations, I think they can still thrive and operate for many more years. For how much longer? Dunno, but it would be a shame to see them eventually collapse because of this.

[BUCK3Y3 44]

Tennis player commenting on cycling. Thats hard hitting stuff.

[Duck Fallas 209]

I'm less concerned with the doping than I am with the way Lance treated other people while this was all going on. Be great at something or not, you don't get to treat people like shit. I'm much more horrified by his overall lack of humanity than I am by whatever the fuck he chose to put in his body.

Same here.

 

He cheated and got caught. I think that his treatment of those around him in his cover-up is what pisses me off more than anything. He is really a piece of shit, I hope to never hear his name in the workld of sports again. Fuck him.

[seanbrock 1,684]

Nobody really cares about cycling. Nobody really cared about it when Lance was winning. Nobody ever watched the Tour de France. Barry Bonds damaged all sports I think, but Lance? Get real, nobody has given a fuck about him in YEARS.

[rzb+ 367]

Nobody really cares about cycling. Nobody really cared about it when Lance was winning. Nobody ever watched the Tour de France. Barry Bonds damaged all sports I think, but Lance? Get real, nobody has given a fuck about him in YEARS.

Lance Armstrong did the unthinkable in any sport. He won the main event SEVEN times. Then he created a cancer awareness program that caught on like wild fire. I remember when absolutely everyone wore those yellow bands. Did everyone who wore them know anything about cycling? No, but still.. they knew him and his accomplishments. What he did far eclipses what Bonds has done. The chances of Bonds' record being broken again is much more probable than anyone winning the Tour that many times. Come on now.

 

And with a guy having that much success and recognition (in a sport that "nobody" follows) and is also known worldwide opposed to just within one nation, I'd say it'd have a much bigger effect by far.