The Armstrong Lie Page #14

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busted for doping, Tyler Hamilton,

began to consider his options.

Tyler had been

Lance's teammate in 1999.

Tyler had been subpoenaed by the

grand jury, and he had a realization.

Number one was, all this is gonna

come out one way or the other.

The lie is too big.

And the second thing was that

he wanted to tell his story.

You saw Lance

Armstrong inject EPO?

Yeah, like, we all did.

And you see in that footage

Tyler's intense discomfort

at facing the truth,

how hard that was.

Omert is very real, the code of

silence, which is why it took Tyler

until he was talking to someone

who had a badge and a gun

before he could fully start the

process of telling the truth.

It seemed like the dam broke

when suddenly somebody shows

up with a badge and a gun.

Different ball game.

That was never even

a thought in my mind

going, "Well,

I'm just gonna go lie to

"a federal prosecutor."

It's, like, no way.

Early in 2012, an election year,

the Department of Justice made

a surprising announcement.

It would not pursue charges

against Armstrong.

But USADA,

the US Anti-Doping Agency,

continued with its

own investigation.

He was one of the ringleaders

of this conspiracy

that pulled off this grand heist

using tens of

millions of taxpayer dollars,

defrauded millions of sports

fans and his fellow competitors.

Travis Tygart, with help

from government investigators,

pried detailed testimony from

many of Lance's former teammates.

Landis, Vaughters,

Hamilton, Andrea,

and most damaging

of all to Lance,

his loyal friend,

George Hincapie.

They said, "Cooperate,

and you'll get six months."

Right.

Yeah.

And don't cooperate?

And you're banned for life.

Through his lawyers,

Lance attacked Tygart and USADA.

USADA had said publicly

that they had offered Lance the

same deal as everyone else.

It's a claim Armstrong

and his lawyers deny.

The message wasn't,

"Hey, we gotta give you something.

"We gotta give you six months. We gotta

give you a penalty, a sanction."

That did not happen.

The call to me came and said,

"You're screwed.

"Why don't you come on in here

and confess?"

But I don't understand

then why go tell the world,

every opportunity YOU get today

that we offered

Lance the same deal

that we offered everybody else?

Just say, "We wanted him.

We got him.

"Go dance on his grave."

USADA banned Armstrong for life.

His sponsors and

Livestrong cut all ties.

The UCI stripped him of all

his Tour de France titles

and his third-place

finish in 2009.

Armstrong responded

with a defiant tweet.

I know what it took

to win those Tours.

Okay, it was a little

more detailed

than we were told,

or you guys were told.

But I know what it took, and my

teammates know what it took.

And those 200-strong pelotons over

seven years, they know what it took.

And they know who won.

Did Lance win it according to the

rules of the road at that time?

Yeah. But did Lance win it

according to the rules?

No. He still broke the rules.

Just because everybody's breaking

the rules doesn't mean it's okay.

Lance still refused

to admit to doping,

but his fans no longer

believed in his denials.

With his fairy

tale story in tatters,

Lance reached out to

friends and critics alike

and began to wonder out loud if he

should at last admit to his lie.

After 10 years of his tirade

on me, he called to say he was sorry.

I still get emotional.

It was...

It took a lot of courage

for him to say he was sorry

and for him to tell me

he's done a lot of bad

things to good people.

I said, "I'm sure this was a tough

phone call for you to make,

"and I'm sure that these last two

months have been hell for you."

But I said, "You know what? You've

put me through hell for 10 years."

I said, "You're

going through nothing.

"I hope you do

the right thing."

He started calling

me and we got to talk

about how his secrets were

gonna be given to the world.

His decision to go on

Oprah did not win back his fans,

particularly those who

had defended his lie.

For the cycling

crowd, it wasn't enough.

They didn't hear enough.

They wanted to hear more.

I didn't say enough.

I didn't tell them enough.

And for the general

population, it was too much.

Which leads to

everybody being pissed off.

Because he had lied for so long

and he was so vicious

in protecting that lie,

um...

I don't think people were...

I really think that people said,

"Okay, wait.

Let's see what he does.

"Just because he says this stuff

"does not mean

everything is gonna be okay."

We understand now

that if you wanted to win

or if you wanted

to help someone win

or if you wanted to make a good

living, you had to dope in that era.

We understand that now.

And I think people

would give him that context,

but it's the lie.

The doping is bad, but Lance's

abuse of power is worse.

I see the anger in people.

And they have every

right to feel betrayed.

And it's my fault.

Yet after all the revelations,

Lance would continue

to hold onto one thing.

Was Betsy telling the truth

about the Indiana hospital?

I'm not gonna take that on.

I'm laying down on that one.

Was Betsy lying?

I'm just not...

The hospital room

is where it all began.

It all started at

that damn hospital room.

And he just...

He was there. I know the truth.

He knows the truth.

If it's complicated

for him to say

that it happened, then fine.

I understand that.

But at this point...

It doesn't really matter what

happened in that hospital room.

Doesn't matter at all anymore.

But its symbolic

weight is enormous.

It's not about doping anymore.

That's out there. That's

the least of his problems.

He has a support

group that's around him

that have protected him

for years and years and years.

And now, if he comes out, he throws

a lot of them under the bus.

He's not ready. I don't think

he's ready for the entire truth.

He just can't stand to lose.

He'll go to any length if he

decides he's not gonna lose.

I think the stakes are enormous

for him really coming to terms

with what he did.

Did you feel in any way

that you were cheating?

No.

You did not feel

that you were cheating?

At the time, no.

Psychologically, when you

tell that lie for that long

over and over and over

and people are believing it,

it's very, very difficult,

if not impossible,

to fully reckon

with that right away.

I kept hearing, you know, I'm a...

That you're a cheat.

I'm a drug cheat.

I'm a cheat. I'm a cheater.

And I went and looked up

the definition of "cheat."

Yes?

And the definition of cheat is "to

gain an advantage on a rival or foe."

You know, that they don't

have, or that, you know...

I didn't view it that way.

GiBNEY:
Another definition

for cheat is "to deceive."

That's why Lance is a cheater.

He deceived his fans.

Yet it's also fair to say that

they were willing to be fooled.

So many people,

from cancer survivors,

to reporters,

to sponsors, to myself

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