Lance Armstrong admitted his seven Tour de France titles were fueled by an array of drugs, reversing years of denials in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey broadcast Thursday.
Attempting to explain his drug-tainted past, Armstrong sat down with Winfrey for his first interview since being stripped last year of his record seven Tour titles and banned from sport for life.
It was recorded on Monday in Austin, Texas, and was to be aired in two segments on Thursday and Friday on Winfrey’s OWN television channel.
“I know the truth. The truth isn’t what was out there, the truth isn’t what I said… This story was so perfect for so long… you overcome the disease, you win the Tour de France seven times, you have a happy marriage, you have children. I mean, it’s just this mythic, perfect story,” Armstrong said.
“And it wasn’t true.”
In an opening series of “yes” or “no” questions, Armstrong admitted using blood-boosting EPO, blood doping transfusions and testosterone or human growth hormone.
Armstrong told Winfrey he didn’t believe it was possible to win the Tour in the years he raced without doping, and challenged the characterization of the doping program on his US Postal Service team as the most sophisticated ever.
Hours before the kickoff, Armstrong saw another accolade withdrawn as the International Olympic Committee said it had asked him to return the cycling time-trial bronze medal he won in 2000.
The International Cycling Union last year upheld the US Anti-Doping Agency’s ban of Armstrong, and the revocation of his cycling results from August 1998, but the IOC waited for three weeks to see if Armstrong planned an appeal.
While Winfrey confirmed on Tuesday reports that Armstrong had admitted using banned performance enhancers in their talk, little else was known of what he would reveal.
Speculation swirled as to whether he had implicated others — notably members of the sport’s world governing body — amid allegations of complicity and cover-up.
The difficulty of untangling the doping web in cycling was again clear when the IOC’s move recalled the 2000 Olympic time-trial medallists.
Abraham Olano of Spain, who was fourth, could inherit the bronze after finishing fourth in a race won by Armstrong’s ex-US Post Service team-mate Viasheslav Ekimov, with Germany’s Jan Ullrich taking silver.
Ekimov is now general manager of the Katusha cycling team that were dropped from the elite ProTeam list for this season because of their ambivalent stance on doping, and Ullrich eventually served a two-year ban for doping.
Some have speculated that Armstrong might attempt to rationalize doping as standard procedure in the years of his cycling career.
Certainly his admission, and his choice of the famously sympathetic Winfrey as confessor, are an about face after years of aggressive denials and often vitriolic attacks on those who doubted him.
“No one could have imagined only a few weeks ago that Lance Armstrong would make his confession publicly, that he would confess in public to having been doped,” Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme told reporters in Paris.
“It’s obviously something very important but I can’t say more than that … For us, Lance Armstrong is already in the past.”
This week’s exercise, however, is about the future, with Armstrong reportedly seeking a way back into sports and those in cycling wondering just who will be implicated in his revelations.
AFP
Fri Jan 18 2013
!['One big lie' Armstrong says of 7 drug-fuelled Tours 'One big lie' Armstrong says of 7 drug-fuelled Tours](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2013-01/51358479948_295x200.jpg)
Kylian Mbappe tandatangan kontrak dengan Real Madrid
Bintang bola sepak Perancis Kylian Mbappe menandatangani kontrak selama lima tahun dengan kelab Sepanyol Real Madrid pada Selasa.
Pelepasan ketujuh air sisa nuklear Fukushima ke laut selesai
Jepun telah menyelesaikan pusingan ketujuh pelepasan air sisa radioaktif yang dirawat dari loji kuasa nuklear Fukushima Daiichi ke Lautan Pasifik pada Selasa.
Empat termasuk kapten maut dalam pertempuran
Empat anggota tentera India termasuk kapten meninggal dunia akibat kecederaan selepas pertempuuran pada malam isnin di Hutan Desa.
Pakistan sahkan 4 warganya terbunuh di Oman
Pakistan berkata pada Selasa empat warganya terbunuh dalam insiden tembakan pada malam Isnin berhampiran ibu negara Oman, Muscat.
Lima terbunuh, puluhan cedera dalam protes antikuota di Bangladesh
Sekurang-kurangnya empat orang terbunuh dan puluhan lagi cedera dalam pertempuran antara pelajar yang memprotes sistem kuota dalam pekerjaan sektor awam dan polis di pelbagai bahagian Bangladesh pada Selasa.
Kerajaan cadang perkenal pembiayaan swasta
Kerajaan menyasarkan untuk memperkenalkan pembiayaan swasta alternatif bagi memastikan kemampanan kewangan program sektor air, sekali gus mengurangkan kebergantungan pada perbelanjaan kerajaan dan mengukuhkan daya tahan.
Saya tak fitnah Guan Eng, cuma jelaskan siasatan SPRM - Muhyiddin
Presiden Bersatu Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin memberitahu Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur hari ini bahawa beliau tidak memfitnah Lim Guan Eng berhubung isu pengecualian cukai terhadap Yayasan Albukhary
KPT alu-alukan dapatan, cadangan PAC - Zambry
Ini termasuklah cadangan pelaksanaan Garis Panduan Pelaburan dan Pembiayaan oleh Universiti Awam 2024 kepada anak-anak syarikat di bawah seliaan Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi (KPT).
Lebih 340,000 syarikat buat transaksi serah simpan maklumat pemunyaan benefisial
Sebanyak 340,637 syarikat telah membuat transaksi serah simpan maklumat pemunyaan benefisial (beneficial ownership) bagi tempoh 1 April hingga 14 Julai lepas.
Polis tunggu laporan makmal tentukan punca kematian Nur Farah Kartini
Polis sedang menunggu laporan makmal bagi menentukan punca kematian berhubung kes pembunuhan bekas penuntut Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah.
![ADAMAS 'kejar' atlet lengkapkan modul khas Olimpik ADAMAS 'kejar' atlet lengkapkan modul khas Olimpik](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-06/81717983868_AzuraAbidinjpg.jpg)
ADAMAS 'kejar' atlet lengkapkan modul khas Olimpik
Pihak ADAMAS juga menggerakkan usaha menggalakkan mereka yang berlatih di luar negara melengkapkan modul tersebut secara dalam talian.
![Jia Xin kekal digantung dua tahun - ADAMAS Jia Xin kekal digantung dua tahun - ADAMAS](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-04/81712028856_TBJiaXinjpg.jpg)
Jia Xin kekal digantung dua tahun - ADAMAS
Azura berkata tiada panggilan kedua akan dibuat kepada atlet wanita berkenaan yang disahkan positif doping pada Februari tahun lepas.
![SUKMA 2024: ADAMAS harap sifar doping, tumpuan kepada badang negeri SUKMA 2024: ADAMAS harap sifar doping, tumpuan kepada badang negeri](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-04/51712027610_AzuraAbidinjpg.jpg)
SUKMA 2024: ADAMAS harap sifar doping, tumpuan kepada badang negeri
Azura berkata pihaknya menggesa agar kesemua negeri bertanding hadir secara telus dan bersih dalam temasya dwitahunan itu.
![Isu doping: Pogba sedih, terkejut dan kecewa digantung empat tahun Isu doping: Pogba sedih, terkejut dan kecewa digantung empat tahun](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2022-07/81657684297_PaulPogba.jpg)
Isu doping: Pogba sedih, terkejut dan kecewa digantung empat tahun
Paul Pogba berkata dia 'sedih, terkejut dan patah hati' selepas digantung daripada bola sepak kerana kesalahan doping.
![Atlet olahraga jangan 'syok sendiri' Atlet olahraga jangan 'syok sendiri'](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-01/41705367372_NguJiaXin.jpg)
Atlet olahraga jangan 'syok sendiri'
Annamalai menegaskan sebarang pengambilan produk tambahan perlu dapat kebenaran pegawai perubatan di ISN dan dengan pengetahuan jurulatih.
![Jia Xin disahkan positif doping, digantung dua tahun Jia Xin disahkan positif doping, digantung dua tahun](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-01/41704894319_NguJiaXin.jpg)
Jia Xin disahkan positif doping, digantung dua tahun
Atlet wanita itu bakal membuat rayuan susulan hukuman yang diterimanya itu.
![Glowacki digantung empat tahun, gagal ujian doping Glowacki digantung empat tahun, gagal ujian doping](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-01/71704272285_TBGlowackidigantu.jpg)
Glowacki digantung empat tahun, gagal ujian doping
Bekas juara tinju WBO Cruiserweight, Krzysztof Glowacki boleh melupakan pertarungan di gelanggang selama empat tahun selepas gagal ujian doping.
![‘Saya terkejut bila mula dapat tahu sangkut doping’ - Kumar ‘Saya terkejut bila mula dapat tahu sangkut doping’ - Kumar](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-12/71703814870_TBKumarjpg.jpg)
‘Saya terkejut bila mula dapat tahu sangkut doping’ - Kumar
Kumar positif bahan terlarang jenis sibutramine ketika menggalas cabaran The Speedy Tigers pada Piala Asia di Dhaka, Bangladesh.
![Keputusan atlet gagal doping diketahui dua bulan lagi - Adamas Keputusan atlet gagal doping diketahui dua bulan lagi - Adamas](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2021-07/61626155599_DopingTest.jpg)
Keputusan atlet gagal doping diketahui dua bulan lagi - Adamas
Pengarah Adamas, Azura Abidin berkata, sesi pendengaran membabitkan kes berkenaan telah diadakan pada Isnin lepas.
!['Kopi pelangsing' punca atlet gagal doping 'Kopi pelangsing' punca atlet gagal doping](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-06/71686520015_ZakiSadri.jpg)
'Kopi pelangsing' punca atlet gagal doping
Katanya, satu kerugian jika atlet gagal ujian doping ditambah pula makan tambahan yang diambil tidak beri sebarang kesan tambahan.