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What Lance Armstrong actually said
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.
Here's what he actually said on the first part of his televised interview with Oprah Winfrey.
"Yes." -- On whether he had ever used performance drugs in his cycling career.
'I didn't try to stop the culture, and that's my mistake'
"Not in that generation, and I'm not here to talk about others in that generation. It's been well-documented.
"I didn't invent the culture, but I didn't try to stop the culture, and that's my mistake, and that's what I have to be sorry for, and that's what something and the sport is now paying the price because of that." -- On whether he could have won without cheating.
'I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times'
"I don't know that I have a great answer. I will start my answer by saying this is too late. It's too late for probably most people. And that's my fault.
"I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times." -- On why he decided to finally come clean after years of denials.
'The idea that anyone was forced is not true'
"The idea that anyone was forced or pressured or encouraged is not true." -- On whether he forced his team mates to cheat.
'My cocktail was only EPO'
"My cocktail, so to speak, was only EPO. But not a lot, transfusions, and transfusions. Which, in a weird way, I almost justified because of my history, obviously, with testicular cancer." -- On his preferred drug.
'It did not feel wrong'
"It did not feel wrong ... I did not feel bad about it." -- On how he felt at the time.
'The accusation that I doped after my comeback is not true'
"The accusation and the alleged proof that they say that I doped after my comeback is not true. The last time I crossed the line, that line, was 2005." -- On whether he used drugs after his comeback.
'I was a bully'
"I was a bully in the sense that I tried to control the narrative." -- On accusations that he bullied people.
'I am deeply flawed'
"I am flawed. Deeply flawed. I think we all have our own flaws." -- On his character.
'Will spend the rest of my life trying to earn back trust'
'I'm no fan of the UCI'
"That story isn't true. There was no positive test. No paying off of the lab. The UCI did not make that go away. I'm no fan of the UCI." -- On claims he failed a test at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland and paid the International Cycling Union (UCI) to cover it up.
'I just assumed the stories would continue for a long time'
"I thought I was out of the woods. I just assumed the stories would continue for a long time. We're sitting here because there was a two-year federal criminal investigation." -- On whether he thought he would get away with it.
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