Floyd Landis: Shock, cold sweats after I was caught — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:03you became the first tour to France
3. 0:06champion in the races history to
4. 0:08ultimately have your crown taken from
5. 0:11you for
6. 0:12doping how did you find out my team
7. 0:16director at the time his name was John L
8. 0:18long and he called on the phone and he
9. 0:21told me he wanted to come talk to me and
10. 0:22it was it was in the morning and I could
11. 0:24hear in his voice that something was
12. 0:25wrong I knew it wasn't good and I asked
13. 0:26him what was going on and he just said I
14. 0:28I have to come talk and I think I knew
15. 0:30in my mind at that time exactly what had
16. 0:32happened I mean all I could think was
17. 0:35somebody tested positive on the team and
18. 0:36the worst case scenario it was me but
19. 0:39all I could hope for that it wasn't me
20. 0:42um and he came upstairs and he just sat
21. 0:44me down and he told me but he didn't
22. 0:45have any paperwork he didn't have
23. 0:46anything he just said he had gotten a
24. 0:48phone call what happened from there I
25. 0:50immediately knew that things were bad I
26. 0:52mean I I didn't I knew I didn't have any
27. 0:54friends at the UCI I could call I knew I
28. 0:56didn't have any favors with Armstrong or
29. 0:59anyone else that had leverage there so I
30. 1:02think I just kind of went into shock I
31. 1:04went into like a cold sweat and I
32. 1:07couldn't from that point on for months I
33. 1:10just felt disconnected from everything
34. 1:13everything was happening was was like I
35. 1:15just do whatever I could do to get
36. 1:16through it Whatever happened happened I
37. 1:18had a press conference I
38. 1:20had I tried to deal with the Press I
39. 1:22tried to deal with my my family my
40. 1:24mother everyone I had to talk to
41. 1:25everything that happened it was just
42. 1:27kind of wasn't me it was like a movie
43. 1:28that happened what do you mean shock
44. 1:31like it was too big for me to understand
45. 1:34it was too big for me to deal with I
46. 1:35knew I couldn't defend myself because I
47. 1:37could say I didn't do what this says I
48. 1:39did but I couldn't say here's what I did
49. 1:41do so so I had to lie right I was being
50. 1:43asked if I ever did anything and but
51. 1:46during that first conference call with
52. 1:48reporters you said you hadn't quite
53. 1:52decided what you wanted to do yet when
54. 1:55they asked you if you'd used
55. 1:57performance-enhancing drugs you said
56. 1:58I'll say no but it seemed like you
57. 2:01almost wanted to tell the truth but you
58. 2:04said you just didn't have the strength
59. 2:06to make the admission no I didn't
60. 2:08because I couldn't I at that point I
61. 2:10hadn't wrapped my head around what was
62. 2:11actually happening I
63. 2:14couldn't I guess all I could think at
64. 2:16the time was if I say yes I can never
65. 2:20back out of that
66. 2:23so I have to say no because at least it
67. 2:26gives me two options I can keep saying
68. 2:28no or I can say yes but I don't know
69. 2:30what I have to do I don't know what I'm
70. 2:31going to do here to be okay I'm not I
71. 2:32don't feel okay I'm not dealing with
72. 2:34this well I can't sleep at
73. 2:36night so I'm just going to keep saying
74. 2:38no I mean I I know it didn't sound very
75. 2:40convincing because it wasn't true but I
76. 2:42didn't know what else to do I I was lost
77. 2:45when did Lance first call you after that
78. 2:47really quickly after that conference
79. 2:48call he called me and he said that I
80. 2:51have to be more adamant about it I have
81. 2:52to be more direct I have to say if when
82. 2:54I'm asked if I've ever dealt I have to
83. 2:56say absolutely not and I said okay I
84. 2:58mean it was too late at that that point
85. 3:00because I'd done the conference call and
86. 3:02I didn't have any desire to do any more
87. 3:04of those things I did some more press
88. 3:06stuff I think I went on Larry King
89. 3:08and um a few other things but by that
90. 3:11time the damage was done I mean I think
91. 3:13the reporters knew I wasn't telling the
92. 3:14truth but I I didn't know what else to
93. 3:16do why not ask Lance for help at that
94. 3:18point when he called you well because
95. 3:20there there was no way to fix it at this
96. 3:21point see the only way the UCI and and
97. 3:24anti-doping agencies or whoever is
98. 3:25involved in the cover up in the past
99. 3:27could do anything about it was before
100. 3:29anyone heard about if if they're going
101. 3:30to take your side they got to make a go
102. 3:32away before it happens okay um the only
103. 3:35time I've seen that happen was with
104. 3:38Lance but that was with a different that
105. 3:40was with cortical steroids and so there
106. 3:41was a way out of that they could say
107. 3:42well he had an exemption but with this I
108. 3:45just I didn't see a way out and he
109. 3:48didn't offer any help so I
110. 3:49didn't I didn't ask to what extent did
111. 3:52the US anti doping officials offered you
112. 3:56some sort of a deal in 2007 no they
113. 3:59spoke with lawyer at one point
114. 4:01and they told me that they give me the
115. 4:04least possible punishment if I could
116. 4:07give them information on somebody bigger
117. 4:09and there's no inference you can make
118. 4:12from that I mean there was no one bigger
119. 4:13at the time uh apart from Lance and
120. 4:17so I know it had been their goal for a
121. 4:19long time to get Lance and I found it
122. 4:21offensive I found it as if as if they
123. 4:24didn't care whether I was guilty or not
124. 4:26they were just happy that they had a
125. 4:27circumstance where they could leverage
126. 4:28somebody else's life to get what they
127. 4:30really wanted I felt like I was the guy
128. 4:31in the middle and they're not a
129. 4:34government agency government agencies
130. 4:36can do that police forces the FBI they
131. 4:37can give deals to criminals to get other
132. 4:39criminals this is not that this is a
133. 4:40contractual agreement I have with them
134. 4:42they can't use that as blackmail against
135. 4:44me to get someone else um and that upset
136. 4:47me a lot I mean things like that that
137. 4:49happened along the way made me even more
138. 4:50determined to fight because I didn't
139. 4:51want to admit it and help them that
140. 4:52would make them look like they're
141. 4:53actually doing their job when they're
142. 4:54not how else did you justify your legal
143. 4:57battle that continued I was fighting a a
144. 5:01fight against the anti-doping agencies
145. 5:02because I thought they were wrong they
146. 5:04haven't done their job they're they're
147. 5:05getting a random person here and there
148. 5:07the amount of positive test they get is
149. 5:09directly in line with the expected false
150. 5:10positive right sure most guys are dping
151. 5:13you get a false positive every thousand
152. 5:15tests and then you catch a guy that's
153. 5:16actually doping and some of them admit
154. 5:18to it that's not a system at all that's
155. 5:20the joke and so I was mad at them I was
156. 5:23mad at cycling but I couldn't if I admit
157. 5:24it I'm done if I admit to it I'm helping
158. 5:26the guys that I'm mad at to begin with
159. 5:28because they didn't solve the problem
160. 5:30and then I'll never race again so I'm
161. 5:31stuck in the middle but you weren't
162. 5:32necessarily done I mean if after you won
163. 5:35the Tour and tested positive if you just
164. 5:37admitted it right then and there and
165. 5:39accepted your to your
166. 5:41band to what extent do you believe you
167. 5:44could come back the problem is here's
168. 5:46the the questions that would have
169. 5:47resulted from this they say did you ever
170. 5:50take drugs or did you ever dop and I
171. 5:52would say here's what I did and they
172. 5:54would say where did you learn that and
173. 5:55I'd just say I'm not going to answer
174. 5:57that question I mean there's no way out
175. 5:58for me cuz it all led to Lance once I
176. 6:01tell the story about Lance I'm not
177. 6:02getting back into cycling it's just not
178. 6:04going to
179. 6:04happen so I don't get out of this line
180. 6:07of questioning It All Leads back to him
181. 6:09right they're going to say did you dope
182. 6:10and I'm going to say yes they're going
183. 6:12to say when did you start I'm going to
184. 6:13say on phonak no I doped on the Postal
185. 6:15Service team well how did you get away
186. 6:16with it without the doctor's knowing
187. 6:18well I'm just smarter than everybody
188. 6:19else no there's no way to answer the
189. 6:21questions it's an impossible
190. 6:23situation how many times did you run
191. 6:27through the various situations every day
192. 6:29did I all I did was try to think of a
193. 6:30way out I hated my life I hated the way
194. 6:32I felt not to mention I I couldn't think
195. 6:35of a way to to do it and make it look
196. 6:37like I wasn't being just bitter and and
197. 6:39angry and doing it out of spite like I
198. 6:41got caught and I'm was going to teach
199. 6:42these guys a lesson all I could think at
200. 6:44some point when I finally decided to
201. 6:45come clean was well at least I paid the
202. 6:47price for it at least I served my
203. 6:49suspension first I didn't just do it to
204. 6:50get out of something you can't say I did
205. 6:51it for a deal I didn't get it I didn't
206. 6:53ask the government for anything I didn't
207. 6:54do anything I told the truth and that's
208. 6:56it you can't point at me and say well
209. 7:00he did it right away because he was mad
210. 7:01at everyone else that's what it there
211. 7:03was always an argument for the other
212. 7:04side there was always a counterargument
213. 7:06to say well look at him he's just trying
214. 7:09to make a point there still is but at
215. 7:11least I went through what I had to go
216. 7:12through first yeah you can say you
217. 7:14shouldn't have fought so hard but I was
218. 7:15mad at them too I was mad that they
219. 7:16didn't solve the problem I mean the
220. 7:18problem exists because they didn't do
221. 7:19their job when they were claiming that
222. 7:20they did everybody's wrong I was wrong
223. 7:23they're wrong everyone's wrong
224. 7:31[Music]
225. 7:33he
226. 7:36[Music]