Lance Armstrong Estimates He Told "10,000 Lies" During His Doping Scandal

World-famous cyclist Lance Armstrong was infamously at the center of a doping scandal that unfolded over many years.

By Samantha Schnurr May 22, 2020 1:32 PMTags
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The spotlight is back on Lance Armstrong's lies. 

Nearly a decade since he confessed to Oprah Winfrey that he had taken banned substances to enhance his performance during his record-making career, the infamous cyclist is in front of the cameras once again in an upcoming ESPN two-part documentary, Lance, set to debut on Sunday. 

Broken down into Armstrong's "rise" and "fall," the athlete's history-making scandal is of course a focus of the film. According to USA Today, which published a preview of the film, Armstrong, now 48, recalled the extent of his lying in practical terms. 

"Nobody dopes and is honest," he said, per USA Today. "You're not. The only way you can dope and be honest is if nobody ever asks you, which is not realistic. The second somebody asks you, you lie. It might be one lie because you answer it once. Or in my case it might be 10,000 lies because you answer it 10,000 times."

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The comment echoes a similar one he told Winfrey in their milestone interview, in which he said, "I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated many times."

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In the documentary, Armstrong also recalled another act of deceit in which he had forged a birth certificate as a teenager to enter triathlons. 

Per USA Today, he described his method as, "Forge the birth certificate, compete illegally and beat everybody." 

Lance, directed by Marina Zenovich, premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.