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Home Page > News > Irish masseuse Emma O’Reilly rejects attempted apology from Lance Armstrong -VIDEO

Irish masseuse Emma O’Reilly rejects attempted apology from Lance Armstrong -VIDEO

Emma O’Reilly was labelled a ‘whore’ by Armstrong after whistle blowing

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, January 18, 2013, 7:07 AM

Updated Monday, January 21, 2013, 3:18 PM

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The whistleblower Armstrong's US Postal team masseuse, Emma O'Reilly (left)

Photo by Thesundaytimes.co.uk

Emma O’Reilly, the Irishwoman at the heart of the Lance Armstrong story, has rejected the American drug cheat’s attempts at an apology.

Disgraced cyclist Armstrong admitted in his Oprah Winfrey interview that he had attempted to apologise to O’Reilly for his treatment of her.

The Dubliner had worked as a physio and masseuse with Armstrong’s team at the Tour de France and was labelled a ‘whore’ by the cyclist after she spoke about his drug abuse to Irish journalist David Walsh.

Now O’Reilly has rejected his apology and spoken out after he admitted to bullying her in the wake of her interview with Walsh.

O’Reilly, who was sued by Armstrong after the Walsh book L.A. Confidential was published, told ITV breakfast television in Britain that his confession was ‘old news’ to her.

She said: “I missed a call from Armstrong on Sunday night. He then sent a text saying: ‘This is Lance, call me please, thanks’.

“Sorry is not at all enough at this stage. All of it has never felt like vindication - I can never think of another word to use but I hate that word because it suggests almost that there was some vindictiveness.

“I had only ever spoken about it because I hated seeing what some of the riders were going through, because not all the riders were comfortable with cheating as Lance was.

“You could see when they went over to the dark side their personalities change, and I always felt it was an awful shame - they were just young lads in the prime of their life having to make this awful decision, sort of living the dream, yet the dream is a nightmare.

“That was always why I had spoken out - it wasn’t about Lance, it was about drugs and cycling.”
Armstrong had earlier admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he had tried to apologise to O’Reilly for his vicious personal attacks on her.

She had worked with the US Postal Service team from 1996 to 2000 and was one of the key whistleblowers in the case against Armstrong.

After labelling O’Reilly a ‘whore’ and an ‘alcoholic’, Armstrong tried to apologise on Sunday night.

The shamed star told Oprah: “She’s one of these people that I have to apologise to. She’s one of these people who got run over, who got bullied.”

Asked if he had taken legal action against O’Reilly, a hesitant Armstrong added: “To be honest Oprah we sued so many people… I’m sure we did.”

“I have reached out to her and tried to make those amends on my own. My actions were not good.

“I was just on the attack - territory being threatened, team being threatened, reputation being threatened. I was on the attack.

“It’s a major flaw and it’s a guy who expected to get what he wanted and control every outcome. And it’s inexcusable.

“When I say there were people that will hear this that will never forgive me, I understand that. I do. I have started that process. All of this is a process for me. One of the steps in that process is to speak to those people directly and say to them that I am sorry and that I was wrong, you were right.”

Lance Armstrong Admits Doping & Confession

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FLstormorphan | Jan 28, 2013, 06:31 AM EST

Ban him for the media he is still manipulating the public perception

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anglo-norman | Jan 19, 2013, 02:42 PM EST

He is only sorry he got caught.

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Hugh_M | Jan 19, 2013, 02:10 PM EST

The interview is a shameless manipulation by LA to have an international audience change its perception of him as someone who although guilty of doping was, first, doing the same as everyone else in the peloton and second, being harshly treated. If he were truly sorry he would have admitted what he has to say in a less publicised forum. This is the state of his dysfunctional narcissism in that he wants to be the big shot on the big screen. There is so much missing from this interview. He does an injustice to all the cyclists who stay clean and compete hoping to win prestigious races - they are not all like him whiich he implied. He has cheated, lied and bullied in such a despicable manner he really did not deserve to be on such a programme trying to limit the damage to his pathetic character. I feel for David Walsh, Pierre Ballester, Paul KImmage, Greg LeMond, Christophe Bassons and others such as the Andreus - I have followed their accusations since the outset and read the books as a perpetual critic of this bombastic show-off. Thankfully, he is now in their sites as guilty and not making them appear as conspiracy maniacs while he fleeces them financially in court or out of court. I hope we never ever see him allowed to compete again anywhere. The enormity of what he has perpetrated and those with him who facilitated it merits a longstanding penalties - in fact, the ones he would hate most.

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The Commentator | Jan 19, 2013, 11:02 AM EST

While I don't agree with anyone using derogatory terms about anyone else and don't agree with cheating, the cycling world was and probably still is rife with doping. The cycling organizations were well aware most of the cyclists who were winning races were doping and really looked the other way by minimizing the testing process to only testing the winners after the races. Many cyclists had to use doping to compete. The incredible publicity and financial gain the cycling organizations received influenced their decisions in regard to the doping tests. If they had really wanted integrity of the sport and not just a semblance of integrity, they would have required frequent testing and made it a requirement of being able to compete in any races. Scheduled and random testing at integral junctures is required and why not require annual lie detector tests for all participants including doctors, managers, trainers, racers etc. that would not only include questions about personal usage but also include knowledge of others use of doping. It is time the cycling world becomes gets away from the doping culture it is known for and becomes the poster boy for running a doping free sport. I think it is a big joke that the jealous people out there did not insist on all athletes being subjected to the same scrutiny as Lance Armstrong. It is more important to prevent the doping than to discover it afterwards. I blame the cycling world for this fiasco where so many cyclist were caught after the races instead of before. It is a travesty that the cycling community unofficially sanctioned the doping behaviour and cheated the honest cyclists out of appearing on the podium and receiving their medals and accolades.

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cgalliher | Jan 19, 2013, 06:08 AM EST

Alicia: I totally agree, and the people that get hurt are the fans and the sport itself. What a dis-service he and the Cycling Association have done to throw the sport back. How can people consider the sport as credible anymore? What a shame and a disrespect for integrity these greedy self centered jerks have put on cycling.

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nicgearailt | Jan 18, 2013, 10:32 PM EST

what a pathetic human being...and a lowlife

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susan kirby | Jan 18, 2013, 09:22 PM EST

.What he said about this woman isas low as it gets.I actually feel hatred towards him

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bunkerisland | Jan 18, 2013, 08:39 PM EST

His objectives include returning to sports, attempting to save the foundation some assets and keep his own 100 million. Maybe not in that order! I suspect it won't work.

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Aliciarose | Jan 18, 2013, 05:09 PM EST

The apology goes nowhere now. It is too late. He is a liar and a cheat BUT, this was not done on his own. An impossibility. The Cycling Association and the Laboratories were in on this and made a hell of a lot of money. So please Lance, dob the rest of them in and hopefully all those liars and cheats will be replaced.

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Nicomax | Jan 18, 2013, 02:41 PM EST

What;s the male term for 'whore'? I now believe it's 'lancer'.

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Proud Canadian2 | Jan 18, 2013, 02:17 PM EST

I don't know why these people can't admit to there mistakes, it would go a lot esier on them in the long run. Having said that I am so happy that they finally caught this fool, I knew after his second tour de France win that he was doping. You can't win that many races let alone 7 and not be on steriods, Come on people they should have known a lot earlier then they did. The tour is a very tough race.

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falconflash | Jan 18, 2013, 11:00 AM EST

Lance is the tip of the iceberg but they got him....The sad story is how distance runners are allowed to get away with their cheating. That sport doesn't want them to be caught whereas at least the Tour De France tried to run a clean sport...I'm tired of hype about the African runner... before they got epo they could not beat Frank Shorter, John Treacy or Eamon Coghlan.

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StevieVirginia | Jan 18, 2013, 09:22 AM EST

What a sorry human being Lance (one nut) Armstrong turned out to be. After seeing him talk to Oprah, hopefully he will crawl under a rock and never be heard from again. What an utter disgrace.

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Nicopernicus | Jan 18, 2013, 08:37 AM EST

It has become clear to me that Lance no longer has sociopathic tendencies. He is textbook. For anyone who disagrees or cannot see the examples that are even laid out in his so-called apology to Oprah. Look up the meaning and then try and deny to yourself that he operates in a sociopaths textbook format, item for item, Line for line.

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