[size=14pt]Armstrong Admits Doping, and Says He Will Testify[/size]


Lance Armstrong, 41, is planning to testify against officials from the International Cycling Union, the worldwide governing body of cycling.

By JULIET MACUR
Published: January 15, 2013

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey that is scheduled to air on her network on Thursday, Lance Armstrong confessed that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career, according to two people briefed on the interview, which was recorded on Monday in Austin, Tex.

It is unclear, though, how forthcoming Armstrong was about his doping program, which the United States Anti-Doping Agency has said was part of the most sophisticated, organized and professional doping scheme in the history of sports. Armstrong, when reached by e-mail on Monday, said he could not discuss the interview.

Acknowledging his doping past has cleared the way for Armstrong to take the next step in trying to mitigate his lifetime ban from Olympic sports. He is planning to testify against several powerful people in the sport of cycling who knew about his doping and possibly facilitated it, said several people with knowledge of the situation. Those people did not want their names published.

Armstrong, 41, is planning to testify against officials from the International Cycling Union, the worldwide governing body of cycling, regarding their involvement with doping in cycling, but he will not testify against other riders, according to those people familiar with his plans.

He is also in discussions with the United States Department of Justice to possibly testify in a federal whistleblower case against several team owners, including the investment banker Thom Weisel, and other team officials of the cycling squad that was sponsored by the United States Postal Service team in the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s, one person close to the situation said. That person did not want his name published because the case is still open.

Floyd Landis, one of Armstrong's former teammates, filed the whistleblower case in 2010 against Armstrong and other principals of the Postal Service team on which he and Armstrong competed together for several years. Landis claimed that team defrauded the government because its riders used performance-enhancing drugs that were forbidden in its main sponsorship contract.

Now Armstrong and possibly his longtime agent, Bill Stapleton, are seeking to repay several millions of dollars of the more than $30 million the Postal Service spent on sponsoring the team, as part of their cooperation as witnesses in the case, said the person with knowledge of the matter. The Department of Justice is considering whether to join the case as a plaintiff and is close to making that decision, the person said.

Armstrong, who for more than a decade vehemently denied doping, would be willing to testify against the cycling union officials and his former team's officials because he badly wants to compete in triathlons and running events again. Last fall, he was barred from many of those events because they are sanctioned by organizations that follow the World Anti-Doping Code, the rules under which he is serving his lifetime ban. Armstrong said that lifetime ban was unfair.

He met with United States Anti-Doping Agency officials, including Travis Tygart, the agency's chief executive, last month to discuss what he needed to do to mitigate his lifelong ban.

Several people with knowledge of the discussions said Tygart would be willing to reduce Armstrong's lifetime ban if Armstrong would testify against the people who helped him dope.

That would possibly include Pat McQuaid, the president of the cycling union, and Hein Verbruggen, who was the cycling union's president from 1991 to 2005, a time when doping in the sport was rampant. Verbruggen, who is close with International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, is also the cycling union's honorary president and an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee.

David Howman, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said in a telephone interview on Monday that he would not believe that Armstrong will testify in other cases to help clean up the sport until it happens.

"This guy is an enigma and nobody really knows what he is going to do, no matter what he says," Howman said. "I think he's got his own demons to deal with, but nothing can be done about his lifetime ban when he hasn't done anything to help us yet."

The United States Anti-Doping Agency called Armstrong the kingpin of the doping program on his Tour de France winning teams when it made public last fall evidence that he had doped and had encouraged his teammates to dope so he could win. During his interview with Winfrey, he refuted the claim that he was a leader of the doping program, saying he was just doing what his teammates were doing, according to the two people who did not want their names published because they are not authorized to speak about the interview.

Before heading to the Winfrey interview in downtown Austin, Armstrong stopped at the headquarters of Livestrong and apologized to the staff, saying he was sorry for letting everyone down and for putting so much stress on the organization because of his doping scandal.

He did not confess to using performance-enhancing drugs, but spoke for about 20 minutes in the organization's board room, eliciting tears from some of the employees, said Rae Bazzarre, a spokeswoman for Livestrong.

"It was emotional and he choked up for a moment," she said. "But we were all glad to see him."

Armstrong had not been at the headquarters since Oct. 21, Bazzarre said, about two weeks before he resigned from Livestrong's board of directors.