Armstrong tells Oprah he doped
 

AUSTIN, Texas - After a decade of denial, Lance Armstrong has finally come clean: He used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France.

The disgraced cyclist made the confession to Oprah Winfrey during an interview taped Monday, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the interview is to be broadcast Thursday on Winfrey's network.

The admission Monday came hours after an emotional apology by Armstrong to the Livestrong charity that he founded and took global on the strength of his celebrity as a cancer survivor who came back to win one of sport's most grueling events.

The confession was a stunning reversal, after years of public statements, interviews and court battles in which he denied doping and zealously protected his reputation.

Winfrey tweeted afterward, "Just wrapped with (at)lancearmstrong More than 2 1/2 hours. He came READY!" She was scheduled to appear on "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday to discuss the interview.

Even before the taping session with Winfrey began, Armstrong's apology suggested he would carry through on promises over the weekend to answer her questions "directly, honestly and candidly."

The cyclist was stripped of his Tour de France titles, lost most of his endorsements and was forced to leave the foundation last year after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency issued a damning, 1,000-page report that accused him of masterminding a long-running doping scheme.

About 100 staff members of the charity Armstrong founded in 1997 gathered in a conference room as Armstrong arrived with a simple message: "I'm sorry." He choked up during a 20-minute talk, expressing regret for the long-running controversy tied to performance-enhancers had caused, but stopped short of admitting he used them.

Before he was done, several members were in tears when he urged them to continue the charity's mission, helping cancer patients and their families.

"Heartfelt and sincere," is how Livestrong spokesman Katherine McLane described his speech.

Armstrong later huddled with almost a dozen people before stepping into a room set up at a downtown Austin hotel for the interview.

The group included close friends and advisers, two of his lawyers and Bill Stapleton, his agent, manager and business partner. They exchanged handshakes and smiles, but declined comment when approached by a reporter. Most members of that group left the hotel through the front entrance, although Armstrong was not with them.

No further details about the interview were available immediately because of confidentiality agreements signed by both camps. But Winfrey promoted it as a "no-holds barred" session, and after the voluminous USADA report — which included testimony from 11 former teammates — she had plenty of material for questions. USADA chief executive Travis Tygart, a longtime critic of Armstrong's, called the drug regimen practiced while Armstrong led the U.S. Postal Service team, "The most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
Armstrong also went after his critics ruthlessly during his reign as cycling champion. He scolded some in public and didn't hesitate to punish outspoken riders during the race itself. He waged legal battles against still others in court.

Betsy Andreu, the wife of former Armstrong teammate Frankie Andreu, was one of the first to publicly accuse Armstrong of using performance-enhancing drugs. She called news of Armstrong's confession "very emotional and very sad," and got choked up as well when asked to comment.

"He used to be one of my husband's best friends and because he wouldn't go along with the doping, he got kicked to the side. Lance could have a positive impact if he tells the truth on everything. He's got to be completely honest," she said.

At least one of his opponents, the London-based Sunday Times, has already filed a lawsuit to recover about $500,000 it paid him to settle a libel case, and Dallas-based SCA Promotions, which tried to deny Armstrong a promised bonus for a Tour de France win, has threatened to bring yet another lawsuit seeking to recover more than $7.5 million an arbitration panel awarded the cyclist in that dispute.

In addition, former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, has filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit that accused Armstrong of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service. The Justice Department has yet to decide whether it will join the suit as a plaintiff.
The lawsuit most likely to be influenced by a confession might be the Sunday Times case. Potential perjury charges stemming from Armstrong's sworn testimony in the 2005 arbitration fight would not apply because of the statute of limitations. Armstrong was not deposed during the federal investigation that was closed last year.

Armstrong is said to be worth around $100 million. But most sponsors dropped him after USADA's scathing report — at the cost of tens of millions of dollars — and soon after, he left the board of Livestrong.
After the USADA findings, he was also barred from competing in the elite triathlon or running events he participated in after his cycling career. World Anti-Doping Code rules state his lifetime ban cannot be reduced to less than eight years. WADA and U.S. Anti-Doping officials could agree to reduce the ban further depending on what information Armstrong provides and his level of co-operation.

Whether his confession would begin to heal those ruptures and restore that reputation remains to be seen.

Diagnosed with testicular cancer in October 1996, the disease soon spread to his lungs and brains. Armstrong's doctors gave him a 40 per cent chance of survival at the time and never expected he'd compete at anything more strenuous than gin rummy. Winning the demanding race less than three years later made Armstrong a hero.

http://sports.ca.msn.com/top-stories...rah-he-doped-5

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Well well.

What a pussy went to somebody who wouldn't tear him a new asshole.

Fuck Lance Armstrong and his blood boostin.

He was playing to win.

I know he's raised a ton of money for cancer but seriously fuck this guy

tried to destroy the life of the girl who called him out for cheating

not a good person

0/10

I'd vote for him in Who'd you Rather Fight, but the fucker would cheat and inject himself with Bison blood.....god damn cheater.

I still reserve the right to laugh when this interview airs and he doesn't really come clean like everyone is assuming he will.

Let's be real though, after the years of scrutiny no matter how much 'evidence' was provided that he was innocent (whether he actually is or not), I wouldn't be surprised if he admitted to it just to try and repair his image. And his pocket book.

Who gives a fuck? Cycling outta be sucking Lance Armstrong's dick for having anybody giving a fuck about the sport other than those already involved in it. He has already lost all his sponsors, control of his organization, and everything else. His story is still amazing, and while he probably wouldn't have won as many races his story is still an amazing story of human triumph over tragedy.

Also, all these people who he sued and everything else for libel. Fuck them. They snitched and everything else just to make money and get their name in the papers off the back of the guy who made them money. Fuck them too.

Pretty much what James Steele said. We will now get a 20 second highlight on ESPN once a year.

The Tour de France was around a long time before Lance Armstrong came along. What he and others have done is an enormous black eye for the sport, and continues to be. Lance Armstrong may have made it temporarily high profile in the US, but the US is surprisingly not the centre of the world and cycling is popular elsewhere.

He denied cheating for years and set out to ruin the livelihoods of people who tried to expose him. That is not any kind of triumph for humanity.

Nicola Cooke's statement on her retirement sums this up. Dope cheaters steal from people who compete cleanly, and what's more they often profit further from the profile involved with being a cheat.

Fuck Lance Armstrong.

Touchdown Cancer!

If he tries talking, all he'll say is "UMPH!" cuz I got my fuckin ball in his mouth

I pissed on my pair of Livestrong shoes today. Now I must use my back up running shoes.

Motherfucker Lance, you, you did this.

When I am in Austin, which is quite a bit, I always thought it would be awesome to run into him...

...now when and if I do, I will clothesline his ass off his bike and piss on his spokes so they rust out, so he can discover what it is like to experience disdain.

I used to look up to Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire, that didn't fare too well.

Those asshats dope up and get the glory, I hope they enjoyed their time in the light.

Simmer down. Shit happens.

Have you ever considered... that a big issue is the level of idolism we give athletic people? I mean, look at getting so testy at this guy who turned out to be a cheater. Really?

I have an older brother who I looked up to up until I became privy to anger issues and abusive antics with his girlfriends. Still love the guy but... Santa Claus is dead, ya know?

Oh I'm calm man. I could give two hoots about the guy after it's all said and done.

Still peed on my shoes though.

You being serious? Because I wouldn't call that a rational response. People tried to torch videogames recently, ffs. It's really goofy.

Nah man, lol, I didn't urinate on them. I played out the scenario of what it would be like to be all up in Lance Armstrong's fan club and find out he was a fraud.

My wife would get upset with me if I urinated on my shoes.

BTW: Who's torching videogames? Now that's not cool.

It was news about the recent shootings and people blaming videogames. It's as sad as it sounds.

Ahh, kind of reminds me of when Columbine went down and they blamed DOOM and other FPS games.

Terrible.... Lance tried to ruin peoples lives because the government came down on them.

Sure, he raised money for cancer but he also has millions of dollars not on the "books".

Besides that, most people who donated to him would have donated to another cause to help beat cancer. People tend to donate to the cause and not the person.

I gotta imagine his image and fame had some kind of effect.

Note: I'm siding with the fraud here; I'm just with posts that say, "Sure he raised money for cancer research but..."

I hate to beg the question here, but was his cheating worth the money raised for a good cause? Is the shaming of competition equal to the positive impact on cancer donations?

James Steele, I don't get you sometimes. I man Ray Lewis is a piece of shit, I agree with you on that, but why take such a defensive stance on an equally big piece of shit?

This can't be the whole don't mess with Texas thing. If you can compartmentalize the way he has fucked over tons of people and been an overall asshole to whomever opposed him, only to applaud the 'fame he brought the sport' or the millions he raised for cancer (they can never take that away from him)....

how can you not acknowledge that killer ray is one of the best to ever do it?
(Maybe you can and have, but I just find the way you defend this dude amazing).

He more than likely got cancer because he doped not the other way around.

Or he probably doped because he got Cancer.

He does have one testicle, so. I don't know what he was taking, but you'd have to look and see what the effects of PED's can be on a person who's got only one testicle.

Still, man, the guy had testicular cancer and it spread to his lung and brain. If anyone deserves a pass, it's him.

Its very likely that he was doping before he got cancer and his use of steroids is the reason he has one ball now.

I don't know about all that. He made a bad decision.

So he sacrificed his own body in order to be the best and bring glory to the Good Ol' US of A. Go Lance!

I guess some people will try and defend him not matter what. It's the reason I posted the story. There was so much blind defene of him before, even in the light of over whelming evidence. A big part of me was curious to see if those that called all the evidence and people tainted, would still back him.

Well, I support Barry Bonds, and he's got both testicles, so.

Yeah, but he's got no balls.

There's no link between the two. He doped because he is a competitor, most cyclists were doping in that era and he just happened to be very good at it.

he does not deserve a pass for trying to ruin the lives of multiple people for telling the government to truth so they would not go to jail.

Real thoughts: He didn't kill anybody. No booboos were caused, he made a bad decision, rode bikes with the wrong ppl. Also, he lost a testicle, so maybe this is karma and shit.

Also, the press is really all over the stupidest shit these days. Not their fault, it's the People's fault most of the time.

This will boil over and someone else will rise to the occasion of getting berated for a mistake that will be pushed to the moon in terms of how devastating and important it is for others to be informed about.

What?

The ordeal of him confessing so everyone can feel like they got his ass finally, but it will never stop, someone else will mess up and it's an ongoing cycle of "WHO'S NEXT?".

Too much energy wasted for an event of a confession. Dog and Pony show is all that it is.

Murdering 2 people and cheating in a bicycle race are not remotely close.

While a sad story, the crucifixion of Lance Armstrong is quite ridiculous. He may have harmed his sport, but he has done more good with his fame than harm he did to the sport. The US is not the center of the world, but it is the primary focus of the world's attention. Being as how we are always at fault for the bad in the world and always responsible for fixing all the problems in the world.

Compare cycling with Lance Armstrong to cycling without Lance Armstrong. While the sport has existed and will continue to do so, it was very limited and Lance Armstrong exposed the sport to generations who are might decide to compete in it rather than be completely unaware of it.

No it isn't. It's not my primary focus. I doubt it is anyone's primary focus outside of the US. Actually the issue here is that for years Lance Armstrong was accused of cheating and he denied it and the US assertion was that it was European jealousy. So there's much more to it than you say.

Furthermore, I doubt Lance Armstrong did that much for cycling participation. It was always a niche sport that was popular in certain places and it pretty much remains so. Maybe in the US you can go on about it inspiring generations, but then again the high profile nature of his cheating admission has probably tarnished it many more people's eyes.

I still think it being on the front page of the papers with a "black eye" that will fade away in history is better than if it had been on the back page of the sports page instead. The steroid scandals haven't killed baseball's international growth has it?

No idea. No one gives a shit about baseball outside of the US, Japan and a few places in Central America as far as I know. You might even be joking and I wouldn't have a clue.

He made adverts about how he cycled without drugs for Nike, literally selling himself on the basis that he didn't dope. He appeared in the movie Dodgeball, playing himself, to present a man who does the right thing in the face of adversity. He turned himself into a celebrity brand, and now he's getting the celebrity attention, oh no, please don't look at me, I'm just a simple man, I defrauded my sponsors and lied under oath, why are you being so harsh, I brought cycling to the civilised world. I get other people to pay money for charity, just like Jimmy Savile, by lying to them.

I'm not saying he is right, but he is getting hammered while much more vile shithead "celebrities" don't get this kind of reaction. Is Lance Armstrong a shitbag, yes, but at least a lot of positives came out of it. Whether by hook or by crook, good came out of this.

Good for him. He's now waited until he's outside the statute of limitations to be charged with the perjury he commited. 'Hammered' is hardly a term considering he's having a load of articles written about this. He can't exactly claim credit for the 'good'. Livestrong is about cancer 'awareness' anyway. It's cancer ffs, it's hardly an underdog cause. He at least successed in making it into a sellable brand and making it all about him as the new messiah, with a mantra and braclets with his name on to inspire people, just like Jesus. And now he's dying for our sins and cancer :(

So, a 1/3rd of the civilized world doesn't matter? Typical European asshattery.

Name much more vile shithead celebrities

Name a lot of positives/the good that came out of it.

6.7 billion
minus 350 million
minus 120 million
minus 100 million

570 million is approx. 1/13th but hey math, my isn't my strong suit

By the same token, no one here gave a shit about the "Tour De France" until Lance Armstrong showed up and made every rider his bitch, winning 7 titles.

And no one gives a shit about it now, post-Armstrong.

So?

Typical American dearth of self-awareness. Baseball means nothing globally, it's a niche. Cricket dwarfs it in popularity via the Indian subcontinent alone. Is that difficult for you to understand?

America not being interested in a sport does not equal no one being interested in it. Mainly the opposite to be honest, since the US is culturally isolated.

Obviously your strong suit is grammar!

Who gives a shit about people who worship goats?

If Armstrong was doping before he had cancer, is there any chance that caused his cancer?

I'm not an evil genius like ECG, but I'd imagine it'd be hard to prove since there isn't exactly a bunch of studies on the correlation of blood doping and cancer.

Dude was taking out blood, mixing it up chemicals, and putting it back in.

That I did not know.

Also, Lance really shot himself in the foot today during the 2nd part of the interview. He said he should get a second chance. Why? Because he deserves it.

That just made him look like an asshole. There are better ways to plea your case, even if you do deserve another chance.

Came off like a massive piece of shit in the interview.

The issue isn't just that he cheated. He ruined people's lives for speaking the truth.

Fuck Lance Armstrong.

what is wrong with worshiping goats?

maybe I worship goats

and Lance is a fraud. Also, who is Spilchuk and why is he or she a shithead?

Nope.

Also having had cancer doesn't mean a person can't be an absolute prick.

Only having 1 nut is pretty good reason to be a prick though. Always feel like you gotta make up for it.

People want it to be true because it makes a good story, that's all.

As I said before Livestrong is an "awareness" charity so, aside from the fact that it's still mostly about brand and image, I was reading the obvious reasons why these things are popular. I've mentioned in the past that plenty of these charities end up with people drawing insane salaries from them, but also Lance could do 'events' to promote the Livestrong foundation and then charge them a speaker's fee for as much money as he wanted.

He used his celebrity to make money. The evil bastard!

Some people were on the tele yesterday tlking about how he lied in the Oprah interview. These people want him to come clean or they're going to sue him... somehing like that. Did anyne else here about this? I caught the tail end of it.

Have you adressed your opinion on what he did to silence people?

Yes. I believe it was "Fuck them."

They just wanted a slice of the pie and sued the fuck out him. He fought back. Now, they will get another day in court and pick off the remains like the cowardly vultures they are.

You don't see all MLB players who were clean trying to sue the shit out of Sosa, McGwire, Bonds, Clemens, etc. do you? No because it is fucking stupid.

You defend Lance Armstrong selling himself, commiting fraud, lying and manipulating people for money and then criticise other people because you imagine they only want money.

He cheated, but still made money by riding the fuck out of bicycle. They tried to make money by selling him out. Slight difference.

I don't believe in the concept of "no honor among thieves".

To the fanboys say all he did was take drugs - he didn't just do that, he caused people to lose their jobs, those who criticised him were harassed for years (for example the Andreau's used to receive threatening phone calls from Armstrong fans). Not just for a short while but for over a decade.

While Armstrong and his cronies lined their pockets, others suffered, all for his ego.

James Steele - you quite clearly know nothing of their stories and instead choose to drink the Armstrong kool aid.

Tell me - how have Betsy Andreau or Paul Kimmage, or Christophe Bassons, Pippo Simeoni etc enriched themselves by exposing Armstrong?


Yes there is - and this is why the 'Hospital incident' is so key to the whole story. The doctors asked Armstrong if he had doped before he had had cancer. He listed in the presence of the Andreaus, a rep from Oakley and I believe one other person all the drugs he had taken.

Joe Papp and other dopers have spoken out about the health issues that they have suffered and that they believe were caused by their doping.