Lance Armstrong has admitted he used performance enhancing drugs during his cycling career.
He made the admission in an interview with American television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, which was broadcast on January 17.
He told Winfrey that he had taken banned substance in all seven of his Tour de France victories and that he did not believe it would have been possible to win the race seven times in a row without doping.
Armstrong said he did not feel bad about using performance enhancing drugs during his career because he thought all cyclists were doing it and he needed to create "a level playing field."
Armstrong said he would spend the rest of his life trying to win back people's trust.
He called his defiance, attitude, and arrogance in pursuit of success "a major flaw."
"I was a bully in the sense that I tried to control the narrative and if I didn't like what somebody said, for whatever reason in my own head whether I viewed that as somebody being disloyal or a friend turning on you, I tried to control that," he said.
The 41-year-old sportsman also said the last time he used drugs was in 2005 and that he did not use them in his comeback in 2009-10.
Armstrong was stripped of all his titles in the wake of a U.S. Antidoping Agency report last October and banned for life from competing in triathlons and other officially sponsored events.
The World Antidoping Agency (WADA) has called on Armstrong to testify under oath on everything he knows about doping in cycling. In the interview with Winfrey, Armstrong said he did not want to "talk about others in that generation" of cyclists.
He was stripped of his seven Tour de France wins along with his bronze medal from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. He lost nearly all his sponsors and left the Livestrong cancer charity he founded in 1997.
In 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to other parts of his body. His complete recovery and rise to the top of world cycling brought him wealth and fame.
For most of his career, he aggressively denied all doping allegations.
He made the admission in an interview with American television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, which was broadcast on January 17.
He told Winfrey that he had taken banned substance in all seven of his Tour de France victories and that he did not believe it would have been possible to win the race seven times in a row without doping.
Armstrong said he did not feel bad about using performance enhancing drugs during his career because he thought all cyclists were doing it and he needed to create "a level playing field."
Armstrong said he would spend the rest of his life trying to win back people's trust.
He called his defiance, attitude, and arrogance in pursuit of success "a major flaw."
"I was a bully in the sense that I tried to control the narrative and if I didn't like what somebody said, for whatever reason in my own head whether I viewed that as somebody being disloyal or a friend turning on you, I tried to control that," he said.
The 41-year-old sportsman also said the last time he used drugs was in 2005 and that he did not use them in his comeback in 2009-10.
Armstrong was stripped of all his titles in the wake of a U.S. Antidoping Agency report last October and banned for life from competing in triathlons and other officially sponsored events.
The World Antidoping Agency (WADA) has called on Armstrong to testify under oath on everything he knows about doping in cycling. In the interview with Winfrey, Armstrong said he did not want to "talk about others in that generation" of cyclists.
He was stripped of his seven Tour de France wins along with his bronze medal from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. He lost nearly all his sponsors and left the Livestrong cancer charity he founded in 1997.
In 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to other parts of his body. His complete recovery and rise to the top of world cycling brought him wealth and fame.
For most of his career, he aggressively denied all doping allegations.