LANCE Armstrong holds a grudge. The six-time winner of the Tour de France was asked by Playboy if he’ll get fat when he retires. “I’ll be a fitness junkie forever, not out of shape like some guys. But I’m not naming names . . . achoo-lemond!” Playboy asked Armstrong about Greg LeMond, “your boyhood hero” who won the prestigious bicycle race three times. “He suspects you’re a doper. What’s your relationship with LeMond?” “None,” Lance replied. “What he did in 1989 and 1990 was phenomenal. But Greg’s not even worth talking about today. And I don’t need to hear from him — he’d only shove his foot farther down his throat.”
My understanding is that LeMond gained weight as a result of a medical condition. If that is true then I find LA’s comments unclassy.
It always amazes me when powerful athletes with a public relations team shoot their mouth out like this. In my opinion, LA would have looked better by simply saying something like “I will always remain fit and healthy” and leave it at that.
My understanding is that LeMond gained weight as a result of a medical condition. If that is true then I find LA’s comments unclassy.
It always amazes me when powerful athletes with a public relations team shoot their mouth out like this. In my opinion, LA would have looked better by simply saying something like “I will always remain fit and healthy” and leave it at that.
Lance never said that Lemond gained weight. He simply stated he would stay fit, unlike some guys.
And I agree. He should be able to say what he feels, just like the people here and everywhere else online.
Would this be the same “medical condition” that most of America suffers from? Or something legitimate? I really don’t know but there aren’t many conditions that cause weight gain that I’m aware of… Many cause weight loss, however. I’m curious, he’s a big guy now.
Lance has never been, and likely never will be, well spoken in front of a mic. If it’s something he’s had time to rehearse and prepare for, then he can do a pretty good job. However, he doesn’t have the education or experience in other areas (other than cycling) to not put his foot in his mouth fairly often. This is also true for most professional athletes.
Well, Lemond IS fat (and not just compared to his peak TdF fitness). Mitochondrial Myopathy affects the high end of endurance and power output. He could still do things to prevent his weight gain. But, like a lot of retired professional athletes, if he can’t play at the top of the game, he won’t play at all. Sad.
I actually think Armstrong responds to ad-hoc questions pretty well.
And you are correct, most professional athletes say some really dumb things.
My personal favorite:
I recall after an NBA basketball game a few years back, a reporter asked a player how he was able to drive the basket with either hand. The athlete responded that he was “amphibious”.
As I remember Greg LeMond was shot in a hunting accident and still has some traces of the lead buckshot in his body. A little while later he retired from cycling.
As I remember Greg LeMond was shot in a hunting accident and still has some traces of the lead buckshot in his body. A little while later he retired from cycling.
Can anyone else comfirm this?
jaretj
If by a little while later you mean after winning the TdF two more times, you are correct.
That “amphibious” comment was by Charles Shackleford, of NC State fame. I think the quote was something like: “I can dribble with my left, I can dribble with my left…I’m amphibious!” I love that quote and not only because I went to UNC.
Greg has been on the record many times stating that the shotgun pellets left in his lung lining after the shooting were the cause of his early retirement. He felt he could have won even more TDF’s.
From my reading, there was a number of pellets they could not extract from him without extreme risk. This would not be a problem for a normal person, however, the reasoning behind his problems was the dramatic blood and airflow he had because of being a professional athlete in an endurance sport. I don’t know if they ‘rusted’ or something - but it had to do with the metal getting in his system.
Did you expect anything else from Armstrong? He’s never been a classy guy.
Given his background, education, and temperment I don’t find his comments surprising. Par for the course for this guy. Hence the foot in mouth disease.
Lance and Lemond are one in the same, popular athletes in an unpopular sport.
In three-to-ten years Lance will be doing the exact same thing.
(and hopefully he’s complaining about me.)
I agree with what appears to be a minority here in saying that Lance responds well to the media. I train people to talk to the media as part of my job, and I’d go so far as to say that he is one of the best American athletes when it comes to a face to face with a reporter. I’ve never seen him waver from message in direct discussions on controversial topics (e.g., doping) even with hostile reporters. He talks to French reporters in their language as part of an effort to endear himself to the French public - not an easy task for a man who has accomplished the public relations equivalent of a baseball team from Bordeaux coming over to the US and winning the World Series…six times in a row (paraphrasing something Frank DeFord once wrote). If he comes across as cocky, then - hey, guess what - he’s cocky, and always has been! Knowing what we know of Lance, I’d be more concerned if he came across being modest.
Lance may or may not have something to hide (personally, I think he’s clean… but that’s just me). But the fact is that there are a lot of people who want to see him go down in flames, and a lot of reporters who are itching to break the story that he juiced. That’s the reality he has to deal with, innocent or not. At the same time, anyone who’s watched a nasty political campaign can tell you that success lies partly in being on message, and partly in misdirecting the media and discrediting your opponent. So you provoke a feud with Lemond (I recall him doing the same thing with Pantani when MP questioned Lance’s integrity). You get everyone up in arms by suggesting Paris is the place for the Olympics. Etc. Now reporters have to focus on this stuff and the big question gets diluted. This kind of stuff is calculated. It doesn’t occur to me to be a particularly honest tactic, but then again I’ve never worked with anyone under that level of scrutiny. It’s the reality of the game in which he’s playing.