Oprah Winfrey began her interview with former cycling legend Lance Armstrong with a barrage of Yes and No questions that he answered without flinching.
Armstrong admitted to the OWN mogul that he took a long list of banned substances to enhance his cycling performances beginning in the mid-90’s, long before his record breaking seven Tour de France wins. His “cocktail” of choice was testosterone, EPO and blood transfusions to boost his own blood.
Oprah suggested he was coming forward because he hoped to compete in the future. Armstrong nixed that idea but claims he doesn’t have a great answer about why he has decided to admit he lied, saying “this is too late.”
Lance discounted the IOC assessment that he ran a “sophisticated doping operation.” He said, “I viewed it as very simple, very conservative. You had things that were oxygen-boosting drugs, for lack of a better word, that were incredibly beneficial for endurance sports. And that’s all you needed.”
Was he afraid of getting caught? “No.” Did it feel wrong? “No.” Did it feel like cheating? “No.” He suggested that doping practices were so rampant in the sport that he “viewed it a a level playing field.” When pressed by O he refused to implicate anyone other than himself.
His former team mate Tyler Hamilton wrote a book, ‘The Secret Race,’ in which he alleged that Armstrong had a positive blood test during the 2001 Tour de Suisse and paid off a lab and the UCI with a generous donation. Armstrong told Winfrey that the $1 million check was not hush money. Friday morning during to TODAY interview with Matt Lauer, Hamilton stood by his original claim … which would imply that Armstrong is still lying.
The disgraced athlete claims he never forced his teammates to participate in doping but did acknowledge that he was a full blown bully who led by example. He believes his biggest mistake was his 2009 comeback, a decision that sparked a renewed effort on several fronts to unravel his doping scheme.
Part-two of Oprah’s exclusive interview airs Friday, Jan. 19, on OWN TV. Check out Armstrong’s major admissions below:
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