TNT forced to apologise over a Winter Olympics Lance Armstrong comment | Other | Sport
Dixon said of the Canadian athlete: “It’s so crazy, though, how defensive he got; that’s the thing,” and fellow pundit, the former alpine skier and ski cross racer Ed Drake added: “Yeah, because he knew that he’d done wrong.” Buongiorno Milano presenter Orla Chennaoui then asked: “The best form of defence is attack, isn’t it?” to which Dixon agreed: Yeah, we saw that with Lance Armstrong, he was pretty aggressive,” seemingly referring to the American’s decade-long denial.
Drake was the first to respond, interjecting by saying: “Oh, here we go!” Chennaoui and TNT’s other studio pundit, former Team GB slopestyle snowboarder Aimee Fuller, also reacted with audible shock.
Dixon added: “What? Y’know, that’s what happens, isn’t it?” Fuller labelled the comment “controversial” before Laura Robson, joining them via video link from Cortina d’Ampezzo for the curling segment, said: “I’m sure the curlers would love to be compared to Lance Armstrong.”
Chennaoui also added: “Never in my sporting broadcasting career did I think that Lance Armstrong would be compared to the
Canadian curling team.” Dixon conceded: “Sorry, excuse me, that sounds a little bit hyperbolic, but what I’m saying is, listen, when you get that defensive, it’s just a little bit like ‘whoa, OK, everyone calm down a little bit’. It’s just a little bit of a prod, and everybody’s kicking off.”
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The curler has since said: “I probably could have handled it better, but we’re human out there, and there are a lot of emotions. I’m not going to apologise for defending my teammates and standing up for myself.
“My whole life I’ve been like that if my integrity has been questioned. I’ve curled my whole life, never once with the intention of getting an advantage through cheating. So when it gets attacked, I get my back up and get a little bit aggressive.
“I could have handled it better. No question. There are young curlers all over Canada who look up to my team and me. I pride myself on making them proud. That’s the part that I regret a little bit… Probably the language, I could have done without that.”
Express has reached out to TNT for comment.
