15 biggest moments from the Lance Armstrong interview
 

15 biggest moments from the Lance Armstrong interview

 

During a televised interviewed with Oprah Winfrey, cyclist Lance Armstrong finally admitted to doping. Here are some highlights

 
January 18, 2013
 
 
 
For many, the big moment came right at the top of the interview when Winfrey asked Armstrong a series of yes/no questions.
 

For many, the big moment came right at the top of the interview when Winfrey asked Armstrong a series of yes/no questions.

Photograph by: Screengrab, Screengrab

 
For many, the big moment came right at the top of the interview when Winfrey asked Armstrong a series of yes/no questions.
Oprah: "Did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance?" Lance: "Yes."
Oprah: "Was one of those banned substances EPO?" Lance: "Yes." Oprah: "Did you ever blood dope or use blood transfusions to enhance your cycling performance?" Lance: "Yes."
Oprah: "Did you ever use any other banned substances such as testosterone, cortisone or Human Growth Hormone?" Lance: "Yes." Oprah: "In all seven of your Tour de France victories, did you ever take banned substances or blood dope?" Lance: "Yes."
"I said 'listen, I called you crazy. I called you a bitch. I called you all these things, but I never called you fat'." Lance, on what he said to Betsy Andreu, the wife of former teammate Frankie Andreu (pictured above).
Oprah: "For 13 years you didn't just deny it, you brazenly and defiantly denied everything you just admitted just now. So why now admit it?" Lance: "That is the best question. It's the most logical question. I don't know that I have a great answer. I will start my answer by saying that this is too late. It's too late for probably most people, and that's my fault. I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times, and as you said, it wasn't as if I just said no and I moved off it."
"I don't want to accuse anybody else. I don't want to talk about anybody else. I made my decisions. They are my mistakes, and I am sitting here today to acknowledge that and to say I'm sorry for that. The culture was what it was." - Lance, on the culture of cycling.
"Testing has evolved. Back then they didn't come to your house and there was no testing out of competition and for most of my career there wasn't that much out-of-competition testing so you're not going to get caught because you clean up for the races." -Lance, on whether he was worried about getting caught.
Oprah: "How were you able to do it? Walk me through it. Pill deliveries, blood in secret refrigerators… how did it work?" Lance: "I viewed it as very simple. There were things that were oxygen-supplying drugs that were beneficial for cycling. My cocktail was EPO, but not a lot, transfusions and testosterone."
"I'm paying the price and I deserve this. That's okay. I deserve it....My ruthless desire to win at all costs served me well on the bike but the level it went to, for whatever reason, is a flaw. That desire, that attitude, that arrogance." - Lance
"I was a bully. I was a bully in the sense that I tried to control the narrative and if I didn't like what someone said I turned on them." - Lance
Oprah: "To keep on winning it meant you had to keep taking banned substances to do it? Are you saying that's how common it was?" Lance: "Yes, and I'm not sure that this is an acceptable answer, but that's like saying we have to have air in our tyres or we have to have water in our bottles. That was, in my view, part of the job."
Oprah: What do you want to say about (former team masseuse) Emma O'Reilly? You sued her? Lance: Emma O'Reilly is one of these people I have to apologise to. We ran over her, we bullied her." Oprah: You sued her? Lance: "To be honest, Oprah, we sued so many people I don't even [know]. I'm sure we did."
Oprah: "When the Department of Justice dropped the case, did you think 'now finally it's over, done, victory'? You thought you were out of the woods; the wolves had left the door? Lance: "I thought I was out of the woods. And those were some serious wolves."
Oprah: When the Department of Justice dropped the case, did you think 'now finally it's over, done, victory'? You thought you were out of the woods; the wolves had left the door? Lance: "I thought I was out of the woods. And those were some serious wolves."
Oprah: "What was the reaction when you learned USADA was going to pick up the case and pursue the case against you?" Lance: "My reaction was to fight back. I'd do anything to go back to that day. I wouldn't fight. I wouldn't sue them. I'd listen. I'd say guys, granted I was treated differently to other guys. Treated differently in that I wasn't approached at the same time as other riders."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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