Lance Armstrong Admits To Doping In Interview With Oprah Winfrey [FULL VIDEO]
Lance Armstrong was an American athletic hero when he won seven straight Tour de France titles. He no longer looks as heroic after an interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he admitted to the world that he used performance enhancing drugs, as well as his role as a bully in the cycling world.
Armstrong admitted to using EPO, a substance used in blood doping to boost one's red blood cell count, as well as a cocktail of substances including human growth hormone, testosterone, cortisone, and blood transfusions to boost his performance.
In addition, he admitted to being a bully towards anyone looking to bring down his doping operation, referred to himself as a "jerk," and an "arrogant prick."
Armstrong, in the lengthy interview above, also said that he couldn't keep track of all of the lawsuits that he has been involved with in trying to protect his legacy from people just looking to tell the truth of his doping.
If there was a highlight to the whole interview, it had to be the portion in which Oprah made Armstrong watch himself vehemently deny any use of performance enhancing drugs, just minutes after she made him admit to using performance enhancing drugs in an interview that will be watched the world over. Man, it was sweet to watch a self proclaimed "arrogant prick" like Armstrong get his comeuppance from Oprah, of all people.
The biggest shock of the interview, in my eyes, though, was the lack of contrition that Armstrong showed throughout.
He said that he feels as if he was on a level playing field with the rest of his competitors despite the fact that he was on a more complex drug cocktail than Charlie Sheen.
If Armstrong really wants his lifetime ban lifted from cycling, he needs to get rid of the mentality that he was winning on a level playing field. After all, there is a reason that the banned substances he was taking were banned in the first place. An "everybody's doing it" mentality isn't acceptable when you're a high school kid falling in with the wrong crowd, let alone when you're a grown man.
For someone who looks like he needs to name names in order to have any shot to be involved with cycling again, a little bit of contrition in the interview with Winfrey would have went a long way.
Part two of the interview between Lance Armstrong and Oprah Winfrey airs tonight so, if you like egos and scolding, you are in luck.