Full video of Armstrong's confession.
Code words. Private jets. Secret blood transfusions. For almost a decade, Lance Armstrong was involved in a systematic doping ring that spanned several countries. How did it work? Lance shares details and reveals which banned substances went into his cocktail.
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Lance Armstrong Reveals Details of His Doping Scheme
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Why Lance Armstrong Says He Had to Dope to Win
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Lance Armstrong's "Inexcusable" Attacks On Others
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Lance Armstrong opens up about his reckless behavior; his association with controversial Italian sports trainer and medical consultant, Dr. Michele Ferrari.
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Lance Armstrong lies through the years...
A series of clips in which Lance Armstrong repeatedly denies taking performance-enhancing drugs. Within a few hours, video should begin surfacing (now posted above) from tonight's Oprah confessional, but until then here's a written recap from the AP:
Excerpt:
"I'm a flawed character," he said.
Did it feel wrong?
"No," Armstrong replied. "Scary."
"Did you feel bad about it?" Winfrey pressed him.
"No," he said. "Even scarier."
"Did you feel in any way that you were cheating?"
"No," Armstrong paused. "Scariest."
"I went and looked up the definition of cheat," he added a moment later. "And the definition is to gain an advantage on a rival or foe. I didn't view it that way. I viewed it as a level playing field."
Wearing a blue blazer and open-neck shirt, Armstrong was direct and matter-of-fact, neither pained nor defensive. He looked straight ahead. There were no tears and very few laughs.
He dodged few questions and refused to implicate anyone else, even as he said it was humanly impossible to win seven straight Tours without doping.
"I'm not comfortable talking about other people," Armstrong said. "I don't want to accuse anybody."
Whether his televised confession will help or hurt Armstrong's bruised reputation and his already-tenuous defense in at least two pending lawsuits, and possibly a third, remains to be seen. Either way, a story that seemed too good to be true - cancer survivor returns to win one of sport's most grueling events seven times in a row - was revealed to be just that.
"This story was so perfect for so long. It's this myth, this perfect story, and it wasn't true," he said.
Winfrey got right to the point when the interview began, asking for yes-or-no answers to five questions.
Did Armstrong take banned substances? "Yes."
Was one of those EPO? "Yes."
Did he do blood doping and use transfusions? "Yes."
Did he use testosterone, cortisone and human growth hormone? "Yes."
Did he take banned substances or blood dope in all his Tour wins? "Yes."
Along the way, Armstrong cast aside teammates who questioned his tactics, yet swore he raced clean and tried to silence anyone who said otherwise. Ruthless and rich enough to settle any score, no place seemed beyond his reach - courtrooms, the court of public opinion, even along the roads of his sport's most prestigious race.
That relentless pursuit was one of the things that Armstrong said he regretted most.
"I deserve this," he said twice.
"It's a major flaw, and it's a guy who expected to get whatever he wanted and to control every outcome. And it's inexcusable. And when I say there are people who will hear this and never forgive me, I understand that. I do. ...
"That defiance, that attitude, that arrogance, you cannot deny it."
Armstrong said he started doping in mid-1990s but didn't when he finished third in his comeback attempt.
Anti-doping officials have said nothing short of a confession under oath - "not talking to a talk-show host," is how World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman put it - could prompt a reconsideration of Armstrong's lifetime ban from sanctioned events.
