Armstrong apologises after admitting doping

AUSTIN: Lance Armstrong has ended years of denials by admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs during all seven of his Tour de France wins.The 41-year-old cyclist confessed during his interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey in front of a worldwide television audience.“I view this situation as one big lie I repeated a lot of times,” he said. “I made those decisions, they were my mistake and I’m here to say sorry.”However the American denied it was “sport’s biggest doping programme”, saying “it was smart, but it was conservative, risk averse”.The interview with Winfrey, 58, was broadcast on prime time television on her OWN network in America, and was streamed worldwide through her website.Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France titles last year after being labelled a “serial cheat” by the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada).The body said he led “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme sport has ever seen”.The Texan decided not to contest the charges, saying last year he was tired of fighting the allegations. He had always strongly denied doping.That all changed within seconds of an explosive opening to the interview when Winfrey, one of America’s top chat show hosts, demanded yes or no answers.“Did you ever take banned substances to enhance cycling performance?” “Yes.” “Was one of those substances EPO?” “Yes.” “Did you use any other banned substances?” “Yes.”In the interview, Armstrong then admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs Erythropoietin (EPO), testosterone, cortisone and human growth hormone as well as having blood transfusions.He continued: “All the fault and blame is on me and a lot of that is momentum and I lost myself in all that. I couldn’t handle it. The story is so bad and toxic and a lot of it is true.”Asked if doping was part of the process required to win the Tour, he said: “That’s like saying we have to have air in our tyres or water in our bottles. It was part of the job.“I don’t want to make any excuses, but that was my view and I made those decisions.”

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Armstrong apologises after admitting doping