Lance Armstrong, former cycling’s most prolific icon and considered one of America’s greatest athletes, finally confessed to doping/cheating during all his seven tour de france title achievements. 

After an entire decade of vehemently denying doping allegations, through substance mis-use and the use of oxygen-boosting blood transfusions, he finally came clean in an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey this week. 

“I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times,” further stating that. “I know the truth. The truth isn’t what was out there. The truth isn’t what I said”. “I am a flawed character, as I well know,” Armstrong added. “All the fault and the blame here falls on me.”

Lance Armstrong, former cycling’s most prolific icon and considered one of America’s greatest athletes, finally confessed to doping/cheating during all his seven tour de france title achievements. 

After an entire decade of vehemently denying doping allegations, through substance mis-use and the use of oxygen-boosting blood transfusions, he finally came clean in an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey this week. 

“I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times,” further stating that. “I know the truth. The truth isn’t what was out there. The truth isn’t what I said”. “I am a flawed character, as I well know,” Armstrong added. “All the fault and the blame here falls on me.”

In October 2012, the U.S Anti-Doping agency issued a report in which 11 of Armstrong’s former team mates exposed the system with which they and Armstrong received performance enhancing substances, with the approval of their coaches and the help of their medical team.

Armstrong confessed that he was driven to cheat by an innate desire to win, telling Oprah that his cocktail of drugs consisted of EPO, blood transfusion and testosterone. He would however not confirm, when, where or with whom he doped during the period he won the seven titles between 1999 and 2005. 

He averred that he stopped doping following his 2005 victory and did not use performance enhancing drugs when he came third place in 2009, and the subsequent 2010 period when he competed.

Of the epic story of overcoming testicular cancer to win the tour de france title, becoming the most celebrated cyclist in history, he said “It was a mythic perfect story and it wasn’t true”.

by Ibrahim Suleiman

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Lance Armstrong finally confesses to Doping