VICTORIA PENDELTON fears the drug test controversy surrounding Lizzie Armistead will prevent her from going one better than London 2012 and winning gold in the Olympic women’s road race.
But the double gold medallist says Armistead, 27, only has herself to blame.
The row over Armistead’s three missed drug tests is in danger of affecting her performance and Pendelton wonders if she can ride the storm.
She said: “It is not easy to watch what Lizzie is going through right now. She is clearly in a hugely emotional state and I am afraid it might have a negative effect on her performance.
“In my opinion, she was one of the strongest contenders for gold in the women’s race. Either way, as she admitted, people will be asking questions of her for the rest of her career.
“It is really sad, but the truth is she only has herself to blame.”
Related Stories
Armitstead was among the favourites for gold until the devastating revelation that she only escaped a ban after a legal battle to overturn the first of those three strikes.
She has cut a distracted figure in Brazil during a series of tearful interviews to explain her mistakes, conceding: “People will think I’m a cheat for the rest of my life.
“I’m not at the point of accepting it yet, but I will have to come to the point of accepting that people will doubt me forever.
“I’m absolutely devastated because people are going to judge me and my family, but I will never cheat in any walk of life.
“What I can do is to look every one of my competitors in the eye because I have never doped, I have never cheated anybody out of victory and I have worked hard for every single race I have won.”
Leave a comment