As far as odd couples go, Ashley Olsen and Lance Armstrong are right up there. According to E! Online, rumors that the designer and disgraced cyclist were dating sprang up after they were spotted getting cozy in various hotspots around New York City. Armstrong was fresh out of a year-long relationship with another designer, Tory Burch, with whom he split in 2007, and not surprisingly, his reported romance with Olsen ruffled more than a few feathers.
Armstrong had retired two years prior after winning his seventh Tour de France. Allegations of Armstrong’s blood doping had begun emerging in the press (via ESPN), so the last thing he needed was any more scandal or controversy. In her book, “Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong” (via UPI), New York Times writer Janet Macur claims that the athlete’s friends were concerned that dating Olsen could wreck Armstrong’s image — which, ultimately, he managed to do quite spectacularly all on his own.
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According to Macur, Armstrong’s longtime friend, John Korioth, “warned the 36-year-old father of three” that hooking up with a former child star, 15 years his junior, could prove detrimental to his cancer foundation, Livestrong. “Whoa, dude, bad idea. You’ve got to put a stop to this right now,” Koriath reportedly told his buddy. “She’s 21…F**k you,” Macur claims Armstrong replied. However, UPI reports that he eventually listened to his friends and advisors and broke things off with Olsen.
