Thursday, September 23, 2010

Lance Armstrong Investigation: McIlvain's Testimony

Stephanie McIlvain is reported to have met with the Grand Jury investigating Lance Armstrong's use of performance enhancing drugs. According to an article on VeloNation, McIlvain's attorney said that McIlvain told the Grand Jury that she had "no personal knowledge of Lance Armstrong using or taking performance-enhancing drugs." (As a side note, I wonder what definition they are using for the phrase "no personal knowledge." Does she have any impersonal knowledge? This reminds me of President Clinton's statement that it depends on how you define the word 'is.') McIlvain is also reported to have said that Greg LeMond's recordings of her talking about Lance's discussions in the hospital room were "gossip sessions that just weren't true." At the same time, Lance is saying that there was no conversation about doping in the hospital.

In the end, it sounds like McIlvain has taken her stand. If she is lying, she is gambling that Novitzky won't be able to prove she is. If McIlvain's testimony is the truth then it implies that Greg LeMond, Frankie Andreu and Betsy Andreu are all lying about this. Also, adding Lance's claim that there was no conversation implies that Frankie and Betsy are lying about two things: 1) that the conversation existed and 2) that Lance admitted to using PEDs and LeMond is lying about his conversation with McIlvain.

Time will tell whether Novitzky gets enough evidence to prove which of these individuals will serve time for perjury. Perhaps he won't be able to put any of them in jail and we will be left knowing only one thing for sure: someone is not telling the truth.

1 comment:

  1. I can never figure out why the press never makes the obvious connection between Bruyneel and Saiz. How do you race for a director for five years, retire and pick up the US Postal Service as a rookie DS, and not incorporate the characteristics of your previous director and mentor?

    ReplyDelete