What a Dope!

For years there have speculations about Lance Armstrong and whether or not he's ever taken any sort of performance-enhancing drugs. He's always maintained his innocence, even when former teammates and other people close to him have come out and said that they've witnessed him doping firsthand. 

I'm a skeptic by nature, so when strong accusations started coming out, my suspicions started rising. That being said, I've always hoped that Lance was telling the truth because he seemed like a good guy.

At long last Lance's lies and deception finally came to light. (Doesn't he know that the truth always has its way of coming out?!) He recently sat down for a one-on-one interview with Oprah to air his dirty laundry. I've been hoping that he would agree to be interviewed because I wanted to hear what he had to say for himself. His two-part interview with Oprah aired last Thursday and Friday. In the interview Lance started out by answering a series of yes or no questions:

– Did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance? (Yes)
– Was one of those banned substances EPO (erythropoietin–a substance used by athletes to increase the number of red blood cells in their circulatory system used to carry oxygen)? (Yes)
– In all seven of your Tour de France victories did you ever take banned substances or blood dope? (Yes)
– Do you think it was humanly possible to win the Tour de France seven times without doping?  (Not in my opinion.)

His answers didn't surprise me. I've been growing more and more suspicious in recent years as more people have made allegations against Lance. I'm glad he finally told the truth and admitted to doping. Although, I didn't feel like he was completely truthful during the entire interview. It seemed like he definitely hedged on some some questions while refusing to answer a few of the others.

What really disgusts me about Lance is how he's treated the people that have accused him. Instead of just denying the allegations and laying low he would bully/intimidate those who told the truth. He even went as far as to sue a lot of them. He was really such a jerk to so many people, not to mention completely arrogant!

I feel so badly for Lance's family, especially his kids and mother. I'm sure finding out the truth has been devastating for her since she defended him for so long. I think it's difficult reconciling Lance the liar/doper/cheat with Lance the cancer surviving philanthropist. Way to ruin his reputation!