Winfrey has always been more psychotherapist than surgeon. Yet the opening moments of their prime-time interview were as mesmerising and taut as any sporting exchange in 2013, as Armstrong, lips pursed and Texan swagger gone south, ended 13 years of denials in five syllables.
"Yes or no, did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance?" Yes.
"Yes or no, was one of those banned substances EPO?" Yes.
"Did you ever dope or use blood transfusions to enhance your cycling performance?" Yes.
"Did you ever use any other banned substances like testosterone, cortisone or human growth hormone?" Yes.
"Yes or no, in all seven of your Tour de France victories, did you ever take banned substances or blood dope?" Yes.
This was one of America's greatest sporting icons final admitting the truth: he was a cheat, a liar, a fraudster. His first book, written after surviving stage-four cancer and soaring to the first of seven Tour de France victories, was called It's Not About The Bike. How appropriate that title turned out to be.
Those initial exchanges carried the electricity of the best courtroom drama. Shortly afterwards Armstrong admitted that he was "arrogant", a "bully" and that his successes were "one big lie". But those hoping that Winfrey, the queen of the soft-cushioned celebrity tell-all, would pin Armstrong down on specifics were disappointed. She got the headline but not the details. Frost v Nixon this was not.
Armstrong's accomplices were barely discussed, despite the darkening clouds of suspicion over their heads. Not Johan Bruyneel, his sporting director during all of his Tour de France victories, or his long-time coach, Chris Carmichael, or his former doctor Michele Ferrari, who received a lifetime sports ban from the United States Anti-Doping Agency last year. Instead Armstrong wriggled clear by claiming: "I'm not comfortable talking about other people. It's all out there."
He also denied doping during the 2009 and 2010 Tours de France, even though a Usada report last year claimed there was "less than one in a million chance" that Armstrong's blood values could occur naturally.
While Armstrong admitted he owed apologies to several people – including Emma O'Reilly, his former soigneur at US Postal, whom he called an "alcoholic whore" and sued after she revealed he had taken banned substances – he rejected the chance to say sorry to Betsy and Frankie Andreu, who testified that Armstrong had admitted to cancer doctors, in their presence, that he had taken EPO. Towards the end of 2013 he made good on some of his promises, meeting up with O'Reilly and the former rider Christophe Bassons, who had spoken out about doping in the peloton, yet many still doubt his motives. They suspect a change of language not a change of heart.
During the interview, Armstrong conceded that he tried to control the narrative of his career, helped by the peloton's code of omertà and an army of sharp-suited lawyers. Here, slightly greyer and softer and perhaps humbler, he was still doing so. In his view, almost everyone involved in cycling during the late 90s and early noughties had doped, so was he really that different? "I deserve to be punished," he claimed. "I'm not sure that I deserve a death penalty."
Towards the end of their time together, Winfrey told him: "I hope the truth will set you free." But, as Armstrong knows, his truth – however smudged and incomplete – is likely to prove expensive given that the US government, two insurance companies and others have filed suits against him, saying he defrauded them. Confession might have been good for the soul, but it has done nothing for his bank balance. Or, indeed, as of yet, his chances of being allowed to compete in sport again.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31DTsritZEg
Synonyms:
Select: choose
Specialist in surgery: surgeon
Negations: denials
Forbid: ban
Increase: enhance
Such: like
Graphics symbols: icons
Then: afterwards
Scarcely: barely
Excuses: apologies
Declared: testified
Regulation: code
Nothing: nought
Administration: government
Summary:
Oprah Winfrey interviewed Lance Armstrong and then he admitted that he had doped himself. This interview was difficult for him. He started to admit all questions on doping that Winfrey asked him. Lance recognized that he had taken banned substances such as EPO, testosterone, cortisone or human growth hormone during his 7 Tours de France. He admitted he was a liar, so his 7 Tours of France were confiscated. During the interview he explains to Oprah what he and his team did in order not to be discovered. It was a too complex mechanism and he needed to be helped by his team colleagues . Finally, the "Union Cycliste International" want to remove dopingfrom cycling and they took away his 7 Tours de France.
Montse García, Sergi Sánchez 2ºC
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