Ben Johnson: Lance will be forgiven soon

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong received support from another fallen sportsman on Sunday when Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson said the American will be forgiven for cheating.

Armstrong, 41, admitted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that he used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France seven times.

Johnson, one of sport's most notorious dopers having won the 1988 Olympic 100 title before his medal was taken away three days later for taking steroids, said Armstrong could still rebuild his standing with the public. "American people will forgive him," Johnson told BBC radio. "I don't think it will be tough for him to make a living. I hope he can move on and do good things. I think people will judge him differently, based on what he did for humanity and for cancer."

'Tygart's story is right'

The former chief of the US Anti-Doping Agency says a representative of Lance Armstrong's offered the agency a donation in the range of $200,000 to $250,000 in 2004. Terry Madden, who led USADA from 2000-07, corroborated a story current CEO Travis Tygart told in an interview earlier this month. Armstrong said no one in his camp made such an offer. "Nobody,'' Armstrong said. "Certainly I had no knowledge of that. But I've asked around. Did anybody? Not true.''

Madden countered that, saying the Armstrong representative called Tygart — then USADA's general counsel — who came to Madden's office with the proposal.

"Then, 10 seconds later, because of our ethics, I told Travis to turn it down,'' Madden said. "We called back that representative and gave them our decision immediately.'' Asked why he thought Armstrong disputed the offer, Madden said, "It's just another personal attack on Travis and USADA.''

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