Journalist to discuss pursuit of Armstrong in doping scandal
In his first Tour de France win in 1999, Lance Armstrong overcame 2,500 meters of grueling cycling, including 21 hairpin turns at the heights of L’Alpe D’Huez, to launch a hero’s myth.
Pedaled by the athlete, the media and the public for 13 years, those with doubts – and mounting evidence about blood doping – like journalist David Walsh, faced venom from fans, a libel lawsuit by Armstrong and were shunned by peers.
Why didn’t journalism prove more resilient? How were authorities complicit? And why was the public duped until 2012, when Armstrong was exposed as a fraud, officially stripped of his seven wins and banned from the sport for life by the United States Anti-Doping Agency?
Join Walsh, the man who first exposed the Armstrong doping scandal to the world, will tell all at 7 p.m., Oct. 8, at Arizona State University, as he delivers the annual Jonathan and Maxine Marshall Distinguished Lecture, “The Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong,” and talks about journalism and costs of truth.
An exclusive one-on-one Q & A session for students will precede the evening lecture at 3:30 p.m., in the Heritage Room of ASU’s University Club. Students can attend with presentation of a college or ASU ID.
David Walsh is an Irish sports journalist, who is chief sports writer of the British newspaper The Sunday Times. He is a four-time Irish Sportswriter of the Year and a three-time U.K. Sportswriter of the Year. Walsh co-authored "L.A. Confidentiel: les secrets de Lance Armstrong" (2004) and also wrote the books "From Lance to Landis: The Inside Story of the American Doping Controversy at the Tour de France" (2007) and "Seven Deadly Sins, My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong" (2012).
The Jonathan and Maxine Marshall Distinguished Lecture Series brings to ASU nationally known scholars concerned with promoting culture through the humanities and a better understanding of the problems of democracy. This annual free public lecture, hosted by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is funded with a gift from Jonathan and Maxine Marshall.
The event will take place in the Memorial Union’s Ventana Ballroom on the Tempe campus. Visitor parking is available in the Apache Blvd. parking structure. There are no tickets and no RSVP required. Seating is limited and doors will open for the evening lecture at 6:30 pm.
For more details visit https://clas.asu.edu/marshalllecture.