Friday 18 January 2013 09:34, UK
Lance Armstrong has admitted his career was "one big lie" after confessing to using banned substances and blood transfusions to fuel his seven Tour de France victories.
- "The accusation and the alleged proof that they say that I doped after my comeback [in 2009] is not true. The last time I crossed that line [doping] was 2005." - "Yeah, I was a bully. I was a bully in the sense that I tried to control the narrative and if I didn't like what somebody said, I tried to control that. I was just trying to perpetuate the story and hide the truth." - "It's hard to talk about these things and not mention names, but there are other people in this story. There are people who are not monsters and toxic and evil, and I viewed Michele Ferrari as a good man and a smart man, and I still do." - "I deserve this. I don't look around and say 'Oprah, I am getting so screwed here'. Were there days early on when I said that? Absolutely, but those days are fewer and fewer and further and further in between." - "The issue of performance-enhancing drugs was 'we're going to pump up our tyres and we're going to put water in our bottles, and oh yeah, that too is going to happen'." - "I went and looked up the definition of cheat, and the definition is to gain an advantage on a rival or foe, but I didn't view it that way. I viewed it as a level playing field." - "I am not a UCI fan. I have every incentive to sit here and tell you 'Yes, that's right, they are all crooked'. There were a lot of things that were shady - that [the 2002 donation] was not one of them. They didn't have a lot of money, I was retired, I had money, they said 'Would you consider a donation?' and I said 'Sure'. This is impossible for me to answer this question and have anybody believe it - it was not in exchange for any cover-up." - "Emma O'Reilly is one of these people that I have to apologise to. She is one of these people that got run over, got bullied. To be honest, Oprah, we sued so many people I don't know, but I am sure we did [sue Emma O'Reilly]." - "[Suing people] was a major flaw. It was a guy who expected to get whatever he wanted and to control every outcome. It's inexcusable. There are people who will never forgive - I understand that." - "I didn't invent the [doping] culture, but I didn't try to stop the culture. That's my mistake." - "It's not my place to say 'Hey guys, let's clean up cycling', [but] if there was a truth and reconciliation commission, and I'm invited, I'll be the first man in the door." - "I regret coming back. We wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't come back." - "I didn't fail a test. Stuff was retroactively tested, and I failed those, but the hundreds of tests that I took, I passed them because there was nothing in my system."