Dealing with doping fallout has ‘really sucked,’ Armstrong says
Disgraced former cyclist Lance Armstrong said Thursday he’ll spend the “rest of his life” trying to make amends to the people he let down and who view him as a fraud after publicly admitting to blood doping six years ago.
Armstrong also said the last six years of his life have “really sucked” as he’s dealt with the fallout.
“It’s been terrible,” Armstrong said in a “Today” show interview that aired Thursday.
Armstrong was banned from competitive sanctioned cycling for life in 2012 and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. He publicly denied ever doping for more than a decade before admitting to use of performanceenhancing drugs in a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
“That interview came at an interesting time, at a difficult time, and in a lot of ways maybe came too soon,” Armstrong said. “I don’t think it worked. I think it absolutely did not work. For half of the room, it wasn’t enough. Then for the other half of the room, it was way too much.”
Armstrong, a cancer survivor, centred his remorse around those he lied to within the Livestrong community. The nonprofit foundation was formed by Armstrong in 1997 to raise funds in the fight against cancer.
“Fraud, betrayal, all of those things that we know people felt, that’s on me,” Armstrong said, adding he’ll go the rest of his life “trying to make that right.”
Armstrong maintained a longtime stance that his doping was part of a larger scheme in cycling. “What I would rather do is go back and win seven (Tours) in a row against everyone else who’s drinking water and eating bread,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong reiterated a point he made earlier this year in which he questioned why exbaseball star Alex Rodriguez was publicly forgiven much more for using PEDs.
Armstrong said, “A-Rod didn’t raise half a billion dollars and try to save a bunch of people’s lives. That’s the irony in this.”