"Armstrong Asked to Return Olympic Medal"

From Athletic Business

Review by Jauan Latney in SRM 334 (section 1)

The big story that has recently come out about Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o is only behind Lance Armstrong’s admissions to Oprah Winfrey in the sports world. There have always been plenty of people coming after Lance Armstrong accusing him of doping, but no one ever had the proof to set it in stone. This always left doubt in the sports world on how “legit” his seven Tour de France titles were. All of that doubt has now been erased with certainty after Lance came out on the Oprah Winfrey show, admitting to doping in all contests.

A week before the interview was to be released on to the public, there had been plenty of advertising and talk to build it up. People took to twitter to put in their opinions as well as making headlines on sports channels and the news, without even airing on TV yet. When this interview finally aired it was split into two separate shows where Oprah got into the issues that everyone wanted to hear the answers to. He admitted to using drugs and said about the whole thing “I view this situation as one big lie” and felt that while he was living the lie it didn’t feel wrong at all. This all flows directly into class because of how the media is now running with the story as well as regular people on social networks. Shows the connection certain media people have with athletes and how the word of something can spread like wildfire from a tweet.

I think the way he went to a popular talk show host to admit to his wrongs was good for him in a way to get the apology out to many. He still had a very negative affect on many people’s lives which will be hard to fix but at least he is trying to right his wrongs. The way the information spread throughout the world shows how much media has changed and can shed light on any event, anywhere in the world. I personally hope Lance is forgiven after the struggle of cancer in his life to even return to cycling. I can understand taking back the medals but there is no need to bash him.

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Review by Brandon Lee in SRM 334 (section 1)

During the past few weeks we’ve seen a good amount of big stories in sports world. From the national championship game and the controversy with Manti Te’o to Ray Lewis’ retirement and his Super Bowl run, the excitement has been there. However one story that has trumped them all would undoubtedly be Lance Armstrong and his long awaited admission to using performance enhancing drugs. 

Lance has won 7 Tour de France titles and speculations have rose before yet there was never concrete evidence of him “doping”. However after many years of these speculations, Lance agreed to have an interview with Oprah Winfrey and speak on the subject. A week before the interview was to be help, the media began to advertise this event and did a great job of getting people excited to hear the details of the story. Oprah and Lance explicitly agreed that the interview was to be “no holds barred” during it and she would ask questions that may be uncomfortable to speak about but had to be done. In this interview Lance Armstrong admitted to not only doping, but doing it during all 7 of his titles. He apologizes to all the people he hurt by not admitting earlier and seemed very sincere with his the apology. I feel that these apologies are from the heart however the fact that he’s trying to race again may have pushed him to say what he said to get in good standing with the public, media, and the cycling committee. I do feel however that the committee did what they should have by stripping him of his titles. This story is extremely relevant to our class because it shows how that media connects with the athletes and how they can shape the way some may view them. It also connects to our class because how they get the word out about the event (i.e TV, internet, social media).