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THE ORGANISERS OF the One Zero Conference have “a number of legal things” they want to look it in relation to possible refunds after Lance Armstrong pulled out of an appearance at the event.
However, the event’s organiser confirmed this morning that they are not currently offering refunds to the sports and tech event, though they could not say if they definitely won’t be offering money back.
Armstrong, who was one of 30 speakers booked in for the conference at the RDS this weekend, pulled out of One Zero last night.
Tickets for One Zero cost from €175 for a general admission day ticket to €775 for a VIP ticket which offers priority seating and VIP events.
One Zero Conference organiser Rob Hartnett told Morning Ireland on Radio One this morning that the organisers “didn’t have any inkling that there was going to be a problem” with Armstrong.
There have been “very small numbers” wanting their money back, he said.
On Newstalk’s Off the Ball show last night, One Zero co-founder Richie Barrett said:
“We sold tickets on the basis that this was One Zero sports and tech conference – there are 37 speakers, 20 international… Glastonbury is about more than Beyoncé, One Zero is about more than Lance.”
Of the athlete’s decision to pull out, Hartnett told Morning Ireland:
He cited legal reasons, the advice of his legal team, the forthcoming court case which we all knew about, he knew about, we knew about on 2 November… [he said] he would be better advised not to be speaking in public in that environment.
Hartnett said that One Zero Conference was not going to do a soft interview with former cyclist Armstrong, who was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France titles after being found guilty of doping.
“[We] never had any intention of this being anything other than a tough interview. There was no point in bringing him over here and just sort of dealing him soft balls that he could bat to the sidelines,” said Hartnett. “It was always going to be you know a tough interview, we wanted to talk to him about his past and about the future of his sport.”
He said that the team was “completely transparent” with Armstrong about this.
Hartnett said One Zero Conference is “disappointed for people”, but added:
We probably got an awful lot more supportive messages overnight about the fact that he’s not going to be here, that it actually makes it a better conference.
He said they had had “serious doubts” initially about interviewing Armstrong due to his past behaviour, but then realised “that the only way we are going to get to the bottom of cheating in sport is to actually talk to the people who have been there”.
He said that refunds are not being given at the moment.
A number of attendees have been tweeting the organisers asking about the possibility of refunds.
The conference had come under fire earlier this month over the amount of female speakers taking part in the event.
One Zero Con apologised for having “fallen short in our first year” and pledged to do better.
At that point, there was just one woman due to speak at the event.
The conference now has a total of five female speakers, out of 34 billed speakers (not including Armstrong).
So much unknown – who are these “foreign-backed terrorists” and why have they got it in for what was such a beautiful city.
@Anthony Clark: There are no foreign terrorists, years of boiling anger spilled over, the riots go out of control in Almaty and a few other cities.
The government is claiming they are foreign terrorists probably because the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) can only be evoked if a member country is attacked by an outside country, they invited in Russia and a few other member countries in to help with security. The real reason they are there I read is not to police the streets, they are there to threaten the police and national guard so they don’t switch over to the protestors
Calling rioters foreign terrorists is typical of Soviet and post-Soviet dictatorships, they then round up people and disappear them. There may be some credence that the violence in Almaty was a fight between factions in the ruling elite vying for power, but this might be just a wild rumour.
Here’s a description of the riots in Almaty by one of the rioters:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kazakhstan/comments/s0q0k7/witnesss_experience_about_the_protests/
Some Posts I found:
“Hey you all, I’ve made a post about how I couldn’t reach my XXXXXX who lives in XXXXXX. I’ve managed to reach some of his friends and they told me he got arrested. I honestly can’t believe that cause my brother is a very compliant guy, very obedient to the laws and even a bit paranoid about breaking rules. He wouldn’t even want to take me on the back of his bicycle when I visited last time cause it’s not allowed. So not a person I could see getting arrested rightfully. However last time there were protests in Russia they arrested random people too and I’m wondering if anything like that could have happened. … ”
“Sorry man, might be best if you stay away for a while though. Odds are fair you might get picked up just for being related. Good luck to you and all your loved ones.”
“I also fear that a very good friend of mine got arrested. I had contact with him on monday for a short time. He seemed to be fine. But since then nothing. First I thought it’s the internet not working again, but it seems to work in Almaty for some hours each day at least. He flew to KZ over the holidays to spend time with his family. As far as I can tell he was not involved in anything. They locked themselves in.”
@David Jordan: Hi David, you’ll probably appreciate these articles: This covers how Jihadis have been slipped into the country from Afghanistan – which explain the beheadings: https:// thecradle.co/Article/columns/5668?s=09
This refers to close links between the US and the recently deposed ruler, with details of US involvement in biological labs in Khazakstan: https:// asiatimes.com/2022/01/kazakhstan-becomes-toxic-graveyard-for-us-diplomacy/?s=09
If I might quote a line: “Why is Kazakhstan a sought-after partner? Simply put, the country provides unique access to ethnic Russian and Chinese groups as “specimens” for conducting field research involving highly pathogenic potential biological-warfare agents.”.
The Ruling elite have been incredibly corrupt as you say, but they like stashing their money in the West for some reason: https:// http://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth/31013097.html
@Kerrill Thornhill: There were no beheadings. That was an unverified claim from the dictatorship.
“All these talks of beheading…never a photo. I’m not saying they didn’t happen but anyone seen evidence of these? Beheading are very violent and almost wouldn’t fit the nature of this riot.”
“And yet a lot of people believe them without question. Its dangerous.” – Kazakh citizens.
Oh, the ONE biological lab near Alamty, 3 day old Russian propaganda.
“Russia claimed a possible pathogen leak occurred at military lab in Kazakhstan; Kazakhstan denies facility was seized by rioters”
“‘This is not true. The facility is being guarded,’ said the health ministry which is responsible for the Central Reference Laboratory, in Almaty.”
“Now miskovites will create 1001 lie to hold occupation of Kazakhstan.”
“This lab is a popular boogeyman among Putinbots.”
Cant get over the faux outrage on social media/FakeNews media over the numbers detained. This was an attempted coup involving what appears to be a violent element that came in from outside the country. ~20 police dead, >750 injured, government buildings, transport hubs were seized, etc. By contrast in the US, the Jan 6th protest was a protest that descended into a riot. Completely overblown. 1 person killed on the day at the riot (a protestor named Ashli Babbitt) yet well over 700 people were detained, many in solitary confinement for months for walking around the Capital.
God bless Kazakhstan
Dead right by Putin, take control and arrest these anarchists
@David Jordan: Hi David, you’ll probably appreciate these articles: This covers how Jihadis have been slipped into the country from Afghanistan – which explain the beheadings: https:// thecradle.co/Article/columns/5668?s=09
This refers to close links between the US and the recently deposed ruler, with details of US involvement in biological labs in Khazakstan: https://asiatimes.com/2022/01/kazakhstan-becomes-toxic-graveyard-for-us-diplomacy/?s=09
If I might quote a line: “Why is Kazakhstan a sought-after partner? Simply put, the country provides unique access to ethnic Russian and Chinese groups as “specimens” for conducting field research involving highly pathogenic potential biological-warfare agents.”.
The Ruling elite have been incredibly corrupt as you say, but they like stashing their money in the West for some reason: https:// http://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth/31013097.html
have your say