{"id":1561,"date":"2023-07-14T18:48:28","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T18:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2023\/07\/14\/washington-post-sportswriter-makes-the-wrong-call-again\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T12:31:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:31:46","slug":"washington-post-sportswriter-makes-the-wrong-call-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/washington-post-sportswriter-makes-the-wrong-call-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post Sportswriter Makes The Wrong Call Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Respected journalist Sally Jenkins has a blind spot for charismatic frauds.<\/p>\n

Granted, I come to that conclusion based on a sample size of two, but let me explain.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jenkins co-wrote a pair of books with Lance Armstrong: The best-selling hagiography, It\u2019s Not About The Bike<\/em> (2000), which barely mentions doping; and Every Second Counts<\/em> (2003), which says more about it, but paints Armstrong as the victim of the French government and resentful trolls.<\/p>\n

Jenkins is the only journalist I know who remained loyal to Armstrong after he fessed up. She considers herself Armstrong\u2019s good friend. Doping, she believes, is a problem with the sport, not the riders.<\/p>\n

That argument at least makes sense. What doesn\u2019t make sense is excusing Armstrong\u2019s intimidation, threats, and lawsuits against anyone who dared tell the truth.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Lance\u2019s limited confession to Oprah in January 2013, Jenkins suggested that his viciousness was all just a misunderstanding:<\/p>\n

I think that he\u2019s got some work to do to persuade people that that Lance Armstrong \u2013 the threatening, the intimidating Lance Armstrong that\u2019s been portrayed \u2013 he\u2019s got some work to do to convince people that that\u2019s a mis-portrayal.(Charlie Rose<\/a>, 15 Jan 2013, 4:28)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good man,\u201d she wrote a few months earlier<\/a>. \u201cThere is nothing that I can learn about him short of murder that would alter my opinion on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

I suspect she feels the same way about Nyad. Diana\u2019s section in The Right Call <\/em>consumes half of a chapter called \u201cCandor.\u201d Nyad\u2019s part begins<\/p>\n

The truth is what got Diana Nyad through her record swim from Cuba to Florida in 2013. There was no room on such a trip for anything else.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Those familiar with Diana\u2019s decades of lies will rightly ask, \u201cWHAT THE F**K?\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what untruths Nyad told during the crossing, but she told plenty before and after. A few examples:<\/p>\n