Lance Armstrong Admits To Doping Allegations

The reputation of American former cyclist Lance Armstrong of being a hero to millions of admirers took a hit when the cyclist admitted doping.

Armstrong made an admission on Oprah Winfrey Talk Show that all his seven Tour de France wins were fueled by banned performance enhancing drugs. In his first interview after being banned for life from cycling and stripped of his record haul, Lance Armstrong remarked he made his decision and they are his mistake. Armstrong, who wore a blue sport coat and a lavender button-down shirt, said doping was so common in professional cycling from the early 1990s to 2005, that saying they needed to take banned substances was like saying we have to have air in our tires and we have to have water in our bottles.

The cyclist, who was once revered as a cancer survivor who beat all odds to succeed on the greatest stage of cycling, remarked he is a flawed character. Lance Armstrong admitted to using the blood-booster EPO, blood-doping transfusions, testosterone, and human growth hormone. The cyclist however said he didn’t create the culture of doping and didn’t try to stop it either. He remarked his success is “one big lie” and he did not feel what he was doing was wrong during the time of his actions. In the interview, Armstrong even confirmed the existence of the shadowy courier known as “Motoman” who delivered Erythropoietin to riders.

The highly-decorated cyclist said he did not believe that doping program on the US Postal Service team was the biggest in the history of sport as claimed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. He remarked the doping program couldn’t be compared to others in the past like the state-sponsored doping program in the former East Germany. Lance Armstrong denied that the world governing body of cycling covered up a positive drug test from the 2001 Tour of Switzerland. He added that he didn’t use banned drugs when he returned from retirement and raced in the 2009 and 2010 Tour de France. The cyclist went on to add that it was humanly impossible to win the Tour a record seven times without doping. Armstrong said his history of testicular cancer somehow justified his favored “cocktail” of EPO, blood transfusions and testosterone.

Armstrong added that he did bullied people who did not go along with the “narrative” constructed by him. He added that some of those most hurt including his former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy, may never forgive him. Armstrong denied forcing teammates to dope but said they may have felt the pressure to follow his doping practices. The cyclist remarked anti-doping officials would have never caught up with him had he not come out of retirement in 2009. The eminent cyclist of his times said he was concerned when accusations by former teammate Floyd Landis against him sparked a US federal criminal probe in 2010. He added that he would be happy to play a role in a “truth and reconciliation” period in cycling and would be the first man in the door if invited and remarked he had “no moral platform” from which to pursue a clean-up of cycling.

USADA chief executive Travis Tygart after the interview was telecasted called the admissions of Lance Armstrong “a small step in the right direction.” Tygart, who guided the USADA probe, said Lance Armstrong finally acknowledged that his cycling career was built on a powerful combination of doping and deceit. He added that Armstrong will testify under oath about the full extent of his doping activities if he is sincere in his desire to correct his past mistakes.

Livestrong, the cancer charity founded by Lance Armstrong, issued a statement saying Lance had misled it and the Livestrong Foundation is disappointed by the news that Armstrong misled people during and after his cycling career, including us. The charity foundation revealed that Armstrong personally went to its headquarters and rendered an apology for his actions.

After his doping confession, the World Anti-Doping Agency said the cyclist must confess under oath to seek a reduction in his lifetime ban from sports for doping. It added that only when Armstrong makes a full confession under oath – and tells the anti-doping authorities all he knows about doping activities – can any legal and proper process for him to seek any reopening or reconsideration of his lifetime ban commence.

Lance Armstrong Profile

Lance Armstrong (born as Lance Edward Gunderson on September 18, 1971) bestrode the sport of cycling like a colossus between 1999 and 2005.  His feat of winning seven consecutive Tour de France titles was rated extraordinary by one and all after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996. The sporting story of Lance, “It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life“, his best-selling autobiography in 2000 not only gave birth to the Armstrong legend but also gave hope to millions across the world.

Early Life

The American former professional road racing cyclist was named after Lance Rentzel, a Dallas Cowboy’s wide receiver. Lance Edward Gunderson was born at Methodist Hospital in Plano, Texas, north of Dallas to Eddie Charles Gunderson, a route manager for The Dallas Morning News, and Linda Gayle (née Mooneyham), a secretary. When Lance was two, his parents divorced, and he was adopted by his mother who later married Terry Keith Armstrong, a wholesale salesman in 1974.

Early Career

Armstrong at the age of 12 started racing as a swimmer and finished fourth in Texas state 1,500-meter freestyle and won the Iron Kids Triathlon at age 13. In the 1987–1988 Tri-Fed/Texas, he was ranked the number one triathlete in the 19-and-under group. Lance became a professional triathlete at the age of 16 and went on to become national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 at 18 and 19, respectively.

The year 1992 saw the rise of Lance Armstrong as a cyclist when he turned professional with the Motorola Cycling Team. In 1993, he won 10 stage races and one-day events but his rise to fame moment was the UCI Road World Championship held in Norway. Lance Armstrong went on to collect the Thrift Drug Triple Crown of Cycling: the Thrift Drug Classic in Pittsburgh, the CoreStates USPRO national championship in Philadelphia, and the K-Mart West Virginia Classic.

    Armstrong won the Thrift Drug Classic in 1994 again and came second in the Tour DuPont in the United States. In 1995, Armstrong won the Clásica de San Sebastián and the rider went on to win the La Flèche Wallonne in 1996 and then the Tour DuPont. The cyclist signed a 2-year, $2m deal in August 1996 following the Leeds Classic with the French Cofidis Cycling Team. Armstrong was joined in signing contracts by Frankie Andreu and Laurent Madouas. The cyclist was diagnosed with testicular cancer two months later, in October 1996.

In February 1997, Armstrong was declared cancer-free but his contract with the Cofidis team was soon canceled. But he was soon offered a contract with the US Postal Team by a former boss at Subaru Montgomery on a salary of $200,000 a year.

Rise To Fame

Lance Armstrong’s cycling comeback in 1998 was nothing short than a dream. He finished fourth in the Vuelta a España and won the Tour de France, including four stages in 1999. Armstrong beat the second rider, Alex Zülle, by 7 minutes and 37 seconds.

In 2000, Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani came back from injury and doping allegations, respectively, to challenge Lance. The race started a rivalry between Armstrong and Ullrich that lasted for six years. In the race, Armstrong won by 6 minutes and 2 seconds. In 2001 Tour de France, Armstrong again excelled over Ullrich beating him by 6 minutes and 44 seconds and Armstrong won over Joseba Beloki by seven minutes in the 2002 Tour. In 2003, Armstrong again beat Ullrich with only a minute and a second separating the two. In 2004 Tour de France, Lance finished first, 6 minutes 19 seconds ahead of German Andreas Klöden and became the first biker to win three consecutive mountain stages; 15, 16, and 17 after Gino Bartali in 1948.

In 2005, Armstrong completed the tour at the highest pace in the race’s history with an average speed over the whole tour of 41.7 km/h (26 mph). Ivan Basso and Ullrich bagged the second and third places, respectively, in this race. After this race, Lance Armstrong on July 24, 2005 announced his retirement from professional cycling.

After a gap of four years, Armstrong said he will be competing in the UCI Tour Down Under through Adelaide and surrounding areas in January 2009. The cyclist finished the 2009 Tour de France in third place overall, 5:24 behind the overall winner and his Astana teammate Alberto Contador. Armstrong announced via Twitter on June 28, 2010 that the 2010 edition would be his final Tour de France and played a big role in helping Team RadioShack win the team competition, beating Caisse d’Epargne by 9 minutes, 15 seconds.

On February 16, 2011, Lance Armstrong announced his retirement from competitive cycling ‘for good’ while still facing a US federal investigation into doping allegations.

Doping Allegations And Confession

In 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency banned Lance Armstrong for life and stripped him of all his seven Tour de France wins. This was after USADA found that USPS Team was engaged in a doping conspiracy that was designed professionally to pressure and groom athletes to use dangerous and banned performance enhancing drugs.

Different categories of eyewitness, documentary, first-hand, scientific, direct and circumstantial evidence were used to reveal conclusive and undeniable proof. Eleven teammates of Lance Armstrong (Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters, and David Zabriskie) admitted to participating in doping and remarked that Lance used banned drugs to win. Armstrong initially denied the charges but later admitted to using EPO, blood doping, testosterone, and cortisone.