Lance Armstrong finally confessed to using performance enhancing drugs during his cycling career on Thursday, admitting he cheated to win all seven of his Tour de France titles.<\/p>\n
Describing himself as a \u201cbully\u201d and a \u201cdeeply flawed character\u201d, Armstrong ended years of denials by revealing his darkest secrets in an interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey at his hometown of Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n
In the opening question of the televised interview recorded three days earlier, one word was all it took to dismiss any remaining doubt his success on the bike was fueled by doping.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d he replied when asked directly whether he used performance enhancing drugs.<\/p>\n
True to her word, Winfrey rapidly fired probing questions at Armstrong, offering him little respite and grilling him about every aspect of his tainted career.<\/p>\n
Without any hesitation, and showing no signs of emotion, Armstrong replied \u201cyes\u201d to a series of questions about whether he used specific drugs, including erythropoietin, human growth hormone and blood doping.<\/p>\n
Asked why he had repeatedly lied about using banned substances until Thursday\u2019s startling admission, he told Winfrey: \u201cI don\u2019t know I have a great answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is too late, probably for most people, and that\u2019s my fault. I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not as if I said no and moved off it. While I\u2019ve lived through this process, I know the truth. The truth isn\u2019t what I said and now its gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
A cancer survivor who inspired millions with what had seemed like a fairytale career, Armstrong said he did not believe he could have achieved what he did without breaking the rules due to the culture of drugs in cycling.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot in that generation. I didn\u2019t invent the culture, but I didn\u2019t try to stop the culture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to talk about the culture. I don\u2019t want to accuse anyone else. I\u2019m here to acknowledge my mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he never considered himself to be a cheat and was sure he would get away with it, until out of competition tests were introduced and testing procedures dramatically improved.<\/p>\n
The last time he cheated was in 2005, when he won his seventh Tour de France on the streets on Paris. He made a comeback in 2009 but said he never used drugs again.<\/p>\n