BEFORE HIS ABRUPT U-turn in an interview this week with Oprah Winfrey — which will be broadcast tonight — Lance Armstrong had, many times and in many forums, consistently denied that he used performance-enhancing drugs.
Here’s a sample of some of the cyclist’s choicest comments on the subject before he finally admitted to doping:
- “Luke’s name is Armstrong and people know that name, and when he goes to school I don’t want them to say, ‘Oh yeah, your dad’s the big fake, the doper.’ That would just kill me,” — in his second autobiography, “Every Second Counts,” in 2003.
- “I came out of a life-threatening disease. I was on my death bed. You think I’m going to come back into a sport and say, ‘OK, OK doctor, give me everything you’ve got, I just want to go fast?’ No way! I would never do that,” — public forum, Aspen, Colorado, 2007.
- “How many times do I have to say it? … Well, if it can’t be any clearer than ‘I’ve never taken drugs,’” — videotaped testimony in lawsuit, 2005.
- “I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles,” — 2005 Tour de France victory speech, taking aim at “the cynics and the skeptics.”
- “There are no secrets. This is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it,” — same speech.
- “Everybody wants to know: what am I on. What am I on? I’m on my bike, busting my ass six hours a day,” — commercial for Nike in 2001.
- “We’re sick and tired of these allegations and we’re going to do everything we can to fight them. They’re absolutely untrue” — news conference, 2004.
- “They say, ‘This is a new guy in the Tour. It can’t be. He must be doped.’ It’s unfortunate,” — TV interview on the way to winning his first Tour, in 1999.
- “You are not worth the chair that you’re sitting on,” — at journalist and doping critic Paul Kimmage, at 2009 news conference.
- “Do we make mistakes, all of us? Absolutely. As a society, are we supposed to forgive and forget and let people get back to their job? Absolutely,” — same news conference, arguing that dopers should get a second chance.
- “At the end of the day, I have nothing to hide,” — Associated Press interview, 2009.
- “I have never doped” — on ‘Larry King Live,’ 2005.
Staying up tonight? We’ll liveblog the Oprah interview as it goes out. Put the coffee on.
