Former cycling champion Lance Armstrong states that he would not change anything about his drug abuse if he had a chance to do it all over again.
That is, of course, if he was taken back to 1995.
In an interview on Monday with BBC News , Lance Armstrong opened up about his regretful past and why he wouldn’t necessarily change it.
“If you take me back to 1995, when doping was completely pervasive, I would probably do it again.”
Armstrong claims that his offenses , which eventually led to him being stripped of seven Tour de France victories, should be kept in context with the culture of the sports world at that time.
Even though Armstrong admits that he does feel bad about what he did, Lance feels that he still justifiably won each of the seven Tour titles that were taken from him once the truth was finally revealed.
“When I made the decision, when my team made that decision, when the whole peloton made that decision, it was a bad decision and an imperfect time. But it happened. And I know what happened because of that. I know what happened to the sport, I saw its growth.”
To keep things in the proper perspective, Lance Armstrong mentions that he would only repeat his actions if he could turn back the hands of time. With the modern-day sports culture of 2015, he states that he would clearly not get involved with the same drugs.
“If I was racing in 2015, no, I wouldn’t do it again because I don’t think you have to.”
Lance Armstrong made an impressive impact on the world of cycling back in 1999, shortly after battling testicular cancer.
Throughout the climactic peak of his career between 1999 and 2005, Lance continuously denied claims that he was behind one of the biggest doping schemes in the sporting world.
Lance was finally found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs in a lengthy report published by the USADA back in 2012. In January 2013, the father of five publicly confessed during a nationally televised interview with Oprah Winfrey.
During the interview, Lance blamed his drug use on his desire to win.
“It was this ruthless desire to win. Win at all costs.”
Armstrong’s actions and guilty confession led to him being stripped of his Tour titles as well as being banned indefinitely from racing. However, the 43-year-old former cyclist told BBC’s Dan Roan that he truly hopes that people will soon be able to forgive him for his mistakes.
“The fallout has been a heavy, tough, trying and required patience. Selfishly, I would say, ‘yeah, we’re getting close to that time’… But that’s me, my word doesn’t matter any more. What matters is what people collectively think, whether that’s the cycling community, the cancer community. Listen, of course I want to be out of timeout, what kid doesn’t?”
Do you think that Lance Armstrong will ever be forgiven?
[Image Credit: Press Gazette]