Lance Armstrong has always been a master of deception and was a good man to buddy up to the right people during his career. And by trying to do the same to his scheduled interviewer, Ewan MacKenna, ahead of tomorrow's One Zero Conference in Dublin, the Texan appears to have learnt nothing from his previous transgressions (Photo: Sirotti)
By Brian Canty
The man who was supposed to interview Lance Armstrong in Dublin tomorrow has told radio station Newstalk how he flew 32 hours from his home in Brazil only to learn that the conference’s main draw was after pulling out.
Well-known sports journalist and award-winning author Ewan MacKenna also revealed how the disgraced Texan was trying to “buddy up” to him in recent weeks by calling his home in Belo Horizonte.
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“My wife woke me up one morning and said ‘Lance Armstrong is on the phone, a situation you’d dream of in the past but now you’d go ‘not again’," said MacKenna on this evening’s Off The Ball chat with Ger Gilroy.
When Gilroy demanded to know what else they discussed prior to tomorrow’s scheduled interview, MacKenna said; “You came up,” addressing Gilroy’s interview with Armstrong earlier this month.
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“I live in Brazil and I flew home for this and I got back in yesterday evening for it but for the last few weeks he’s been calling my house in Brazil.
“He tried to buddy up to me. I think he tried to befriend me to make sure the same thing wouldn’t happen him,” said MacKenna, referencing how Armstrong seemed to take Gilroy for granted when they spoke on October 7th.
“I told him I thought he was ill-prepared and I wasn’t quite sure what you (Gilroy) asked which Lance took offence with.”
MacKenna revealed how he had planned to hold a mirror up to Armstrong during their live interview tomorrow.
“I bought a mirror today and I planned to hand it over to him I wanted to know what he saw when he looked in the mirror.
“Lance interests me hugely because he’s a very unusual sportsperson and what he’s done and how he’s gone about it.
“It wasn’t even the doping; it was how he ran over people to keep his lie going and I was looking forward to delving into that.”
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