Lance Armstrong Quotes: 25 Memorable Statements From Oprah Interview

Zero Credibility

"I'm not the most believable guy in the world right now," Lance Armstrong told Oprah Winfrey during a lengthy interview that was taped on Monday and aired on Thursday and Friday.
Along with issuing this drastic understatement, Armstrong finally confessed to using performance-enhancing drug use during his cycling career, discussed the way in which he bullied those who sought to reveal the truth and got emotional as he discussed coming clean to his 13-year-old son, Luke, about the cheating and the lies.
Here are 24 more of Armstrong's most memorable statements from his interview with Winfrey:

Sideways Head Turn

• "I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times."
• "I know the truth. The truth isn't what was out there. The truth isn't what I said, and now it's gone -- this story was so perfect for so long."
• "It definitely was professional, and it was definitely smart, if you can call it that, but it was very conservative, very risk-averse, very aware of what mattered.

Lance "Bummed He Got Caught" Armstrong

Retroactively, I failed those.

75 Million Dollar Day

Lance Armstrong "All Washed Out!"

• "My cocktail, so to speak, was only EPO, but not a lot, transfusions and testosterone."
• "I thought, surely I'm running low [on testosterone] but there's no true justification."
• "It was win at all costs. When I was diagnosed [with cancer] I would do anything to survive. I took that attitude -- win at all costs -- to cycling. That's bad. I was taking drugs before that but I wasn't a bully."
• "My ruthless desire to win at all costs served me well on the bike but the level it went to, for whatever reason, is a flaw. That desire, that attitude, that arrogance."
• "There was more happiness in the process, in the build, in the preparation. The winning was almost phoned in."
• "Yes, I was a bully. I was a bully in the sense that I tried to control the narrative and if I didn't like what someone said I turned on them."
• "Everybody that gets caught is bummed out they got caught."
• "To be honest, Oprah, we sued so many people, I'm sure we did"
• "I'm not comfortable talking about other people. I don't want to accuse anybody."
• "I went in and just looked up the definition of cheat and the definition of cheat is to gain an advantage on a rival or foe that they don't have. I didn't view it that way. "
• "This is not a good time but it isn't the worst part of my life. You can't compare this to an advanced diagnosis. That sets the bar. It is close but I'm an optimist and I like to look forward. This has caused me to look back and I don't like that."
• "I didn’t fail a test. Retroactively, I failed those."
• "The Foundation is like my sixth child and to make that decision and to step aside was big. It was the best thing for the organization but it hurt like hell. That was the lowest."
• "I've lost all future income. You could look at the day and a half when people left. You asked me the cost. I don't like thinking about it but it was a $75 million day. All gone and probably never coming back."
• "This is not a good time but it isn't the worst part of my life. You can't compare this to an advanced diagnosis. That sets the bar. It is close but I'm an optimist and I like to look forward. This has caused me to look back and I don't like that."
• "If you're asking me if I want to compete again, the answer is hell yes, I'm a competitor."



The Almost Tearful Alpha Lance

• "The biggest hope and intention was the wellbeing of my children. The older kids need to not be living with this issue in my life. "
• "I deserve to be punished. Not sure I deserve a death penalty."
• I told Luke 'don't defend me anymore, don't'."
• "I'm deeply sorry for what I did. I can say that thousands of times. It may never be enough to come back."



Cheater, Doper and All Around Good Guy!

• "And then the ultimate crime is the betrayal of these people who support me and believed in me and they got lied to."

Lance Armstrong Quotes: 25 Memorable Statements From Oprah Interview