This interview is simply amazing. Huge respect to Oprah for how she's conducting it.

At the time of doping, he didn't consider it cheating, just 'a level playing field'

Looking forward to the question "do you fear going to jail?"

Shit. Have to wait for Part II of the interview tomorrow at 1pm

This may be a dumb question, but why should he be going to jail? The only laws he broke are WADA/sports laws, not civil or criminal ones.

Unless he sued someone under false pretenses...

Is it illegal under US law to take performance enhancing substances?

Did he lie under oath at some point?

Yep. The same scenario as for which Marion Jones went to jail.

The thing is he is in a far worse scenario, because he was actively involved in the program and he has sued so many people.

Yep, he'll be doing time then...And I fancy Marion's chances in a female prison far more than his in a male one...

How could someone look into in the eyes of many interviewers and down the barrel of millions of cameras and lie. I don't think I'd be able to live with myself. The fact he comes out now about it makes him look like even more of a twat.

At the time of doping, he didn't consider it cheating, just 'a level playing field'

In the end, I still respect what he achieved because he's right, he just levelled the playing field, and still dominated over everyone else.

And he at least had the humility to put a lot of what he won, and earned through his name, towards good causes. There are far worse people in the world.

In the end, I still respect what he achieved because he's right, he just levelled the playing field, and still dominated over everyone else.

And he at least had the humility to put a lot of what he won, and earned through his name, towards good causes. There are far worse people in the world.

In the end, I still respect what he achieved because he's right, he just levelled the playing field, and still dominated over everyone else.

In the end, I still respect what he achieved because he's right, he just levelled the playing field, and still dominated over everyone else.

And he at least had the humility to put a lot of what he won, and earned through his name, towards good causes. There are far worse people in the world.

That would be like robbing a bank and justifying it because you're giving some of it to "good causes" while spending the rest on mansions and Ferraris

There's a sucker born every minute.......

To be fair, Robin Hood and John Dillinger are legends of folklore for that exact reason.

For driving Ferraris or giving to the poor?

Missing the point Funky, the entire sport is a disgrace and an embaressment, and Lance is a big part of that by his OWN admissions.

Hardly something to respect, it's not about being able to "deal with it", I can deal with it, but i'm not going to respect someone who cheated for his entire career, lied about cheating his entire career, sued anyone who dared to suggest he was a cheat, bullied and intimidated dissenting views within his own team, the list goes on

But yep, he's a guy worthy of respect! Please...

Are you telling me you only respect people with the purest intentions, with pure hearts, who never lie or cheat ever?

Coz I got news for you buddy...

My mistake. Clearly I should be as butt-hurt about this as you guys are. Tis a National Tragedy. Competitive person does everything he can to win. Meanwhile, On page 5: Ursine mammal admits to occasionally evacuting bowels in proximity to wooded areas.

I'm going to remind you of this post every time you stick the boot in to Liverpool fans in WF for supporting Suarez. Along with all the people who quoted and "+1"-ed you along the way.

oh and incidently, I do have the utmost respect for the (few) guys during that era of the sport that had the sportsmanship and morality to ride clean. What about those guys?

Here's a picture of them:

Even Armstrong admit's that there were some who rode clean, he even referred to them as hero's.

Have you even watched his interview, or are you just running off your own pre-conceived idea's on the issue?

oh and incidently, I do have the utmost respect for the (few) guys during that era of the sport that had the sportsmanship and morality to ride clean. What about those guys?

My lack of respect for Suarez doesn't come from the fact that he dives, everyone does. The cunt bit someone for fucks sake.

And Lance Armstrong lied under oath... Obviously he's a much better person.

My respect for Cadel Evans and his achievements have never been higher.

I was always a supporter of Armstrong. I have no respect for him now given a decade of actions. His charitable work counts for something and if he inspired people through cancer then I guess he deserves respect for that.

One is human nature, the other is sub human.

Cadel?

One is human nature, the other is sub human.

:lol: The only reason he's admitted all this to Oprah is to save face for his charity so it isn't totally destroyed by his actions as well.

Yeah, it's completely in human nature to have anabolic steroids, EPO and blood transfusions coursing through your veins...

My respect for Cadel Evans and his achievements have never been higher.

I was always a supporter of Armstrong. I have no respect for him now given a decade of actions. His charitable work counts for something and if he inspired people through cancer then I guess he deserves respect for that.

Maybe his publicist suggested the charity work :idea:

Who knows?

I wonder what the people he and his charity actually helped think?

Yes, but i'm saying his charity has helped people. Respect on merit for that and that alone.

One is a spur of the moment, highly emotional outburst

The other is a well considered course of action over the course of basically his entire adult life to date.

He showed no remorse for his actions and continue's to argue that he wasn't a cheat :lol:

So you can lie, cheat and just blatantly mislead and let down millions of people and as long as you've given money to charity that's ok? Someone should let the catholic church know...
[quote]One is a spur of the moment, highly emotional outburst

That not it at all. It's not about money at all, where did that come from.

The only respectable thing is if people have legitimately benefited from his work directly.

He systematically cheated the system for the better part of a decade. Just because you do something charitable doesn't make you any less of a cheat. It shouldn't get him off the hook.

"Well, he let down millions of people, but other people benefited from it so I guess it's ok".

Are you telling me you only respect people with the purest intentions, with pure hearts, who never lie or cheat ever?

Coz I got news for you buddy...

Totally agree.

I do think that if he generally helped better peoples lives who were terminally ill, he should at least be recognised for that though.

=d> =d> This so much.

It's not like Armstrong is above the occasional outburst either

Personally I don't think he should even be recognised for his charity work since his public recognition was built on lies and deceit. If he hadn't cheated he wouldn't have had the opportunity to be recongised for the work he's done, and perhaps he's denied an honest, clean athlete the opportunity to pursue their philanthropic dreams.

There is only one place in the world left for Lance Armstrong: inside a prison cell.
For the sake of the thousands of innocent athletes around the world, and the purity of sport, Armstrong must now be handed the severest possible penalty for his worldwide confession that he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout the peak of his career.
Armstrong may have chosen the way he wanted to confess - in a plush leather chair in his own lounge room and in front of old mate Oprah Winfrey - but that is where his choices should end. There is now no place to hide from authorities who should be on his doorstep handcuffing him as I write these words.
Armstrong is in a much worse position than that other cheat, Marion Jones, who spent several years denying drug use, perjuring herself and being sent off to prison. Her drug use was not her ultimate undoing. She never returned a positive sample.
Like Armstrong, it was the perpetual lying, and then the confession, that cost Jones her personal freedom. Unlike Jones, though, Armstrong conned an entire generation of fans who not only admired his sporting prowess but bought his entire Livestrong philosophy after he beat testicular cancer.
His cancer awareness network (whatever that means) has been almost cult-like in its refusal to believe Armstrong's detractors and doubters. Millions of dollars have been raised in Armstrong's name.
He has such a large personality that even after the smell of a confession this week, talkback radio was inundated with those who remain steadfast in their support of the man.

Undoubtedly, the Winfrey confession will merely bring more of those supporters out of the woodwork.

It always astonishes me how people like Armstrong manage to keep a corner full of sycophants, hangers-on and conspiracy theorists.

His arrogance and his tendency to sue anyone who dared to utter the word cheat around him ensured that the "baddies" in the media paid dearly if they dared to report the evidence. Those in his corner still believe he has been vilified without justification.


British journalists have spent years chasing Armstrong and their allegations cost their bosses millions in defamation payouts. The money should now be paid back, along with the sponsorship dollars, appearance fees, the prizemoney and the donations.

That he has admitted to being a bully, to steamrolling those around him who were pointing the finger prove the man is as close to the devil as a human being can be.

The big challenge for authorities now is prosecuting their man, cleaning up his sport and repairing its damaged reputation on the Olympic front. Confessing to a talk show queen might be as much as he believes he needs to do, but the world of cycling needs a hell of a lot more before justice is served.


Cheats in cycling are still out there. In a sport where not cheating is seen as a rarity, the only solution to the long-term doping that has dogged it is to make an example of the bloke who held the cycling torch for more than a decade. Only a jail term will put the cheats who are out there on notice.

Armstrong was to cycling what Ali was to boxing. He transformed his sport from a mainly European pastime into a worldwide juggernaut. Armstrong's drug taking made it all right for an entire generation of competitors to think it was OK too. Seeing him get away with it meant everybody jumped on.

The sport had a level playing field.

That its leading light was a cheat for the best part of his career must surely mean the current bosses of cycling will be out on their ears. He says they didn't know.

That is just about as bad as knowing and not acting. Track and road cycling remain dotted with cheats. Rumours swirl around the sport at Olympics and Tour de France time about doping and the pride some cyclists take in beating the testers. The dopers are still out there winning medals and fat contracts.

The United States drug agency will be having a quiet celebration today. They finally have a sniff of an arrest after years of chasing Armstrong.

It will not be until he is behind bars, though, that cycling can start to rebuild. There is something about seeing someone as big as Armstrong in jail that jolts those still out there into reality.

Armstrong's confession after all these years means, quite simply, the world's most arrogant athlete has finally been trapped. I look forward to seeing him handcuffed.

I'd agree if I weren't so certain that people were absolutely going to use it as a justification for what he's done and give him a free pass.

We'll never know but I wonder if livestrong was a way for him to get a form of release from the guilt of cheating?

Maybe his publicist suggested the charity work :idea:

That's right folks, calling someone names, is just as bad as losing all physical/mental control of being a human being and biting someone.

That's right folks, because he bit someone once as an immature and foolhardy footballer he's the most evil person on earth, far more evil than a man who Systematically cheated and lied to people for a decade and then lied about it for just as long.

"Absolute.
Fucking.
Classic."