FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2012, file photo, Lance Armstrong talks to supporters prior to a run on Mont Royal Park in Montreal. Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer in 1996. Within minutes of Armstrong announcing he would step down as chairman of Livestrong, the foundation he created to support people with cancer, his longtime endorser Nike issued a statement saying it would be cutting sponsorship ties with the cyclist amid allegations of doping. Armstrong is said to be worth around $100 million, but most sponsors dropped him after USADA's scathing report _ at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2012, file photo, Lance Armstrong talks to supporters prior to a run on Mont Royal Park in Montreal. Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer in 1996. Within minutes of Armstrong announcing he would step down as chairman of Livestrong, the foundation he created to support people with cancer, his longtime endorser Nike issued a statement saying it would be cutting sponsorship ties with the cyclist amid allegations of doping. Armstrong is said to be worth around $100 million, but most sponsors dropped him after USADA's scathing report _ at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes, File)
Before his abrupt U-turn in an interview this week with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong had, many times and in many forums, consistently denied that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Here is a sample of some of the cyclist's choicest comments on the subject before he finally admitted to doping:
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"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.
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"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, Colo., 2007.
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"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.
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"I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles," ? 2005 Tour de France victory speech, taking aim at "the cynics and the skeptics."
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"There are no secrets. This is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it," ? same speech.
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"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.
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"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.
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"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.
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"You are not worth the chair that you're sitting on," ? at journalist and doping critic Paul Kimmage, at 2009 news conference.
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"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.
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"At the end of the day, I have nothing to hide," ? Associated Press interview, 2009.
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"I have never doped" ? on 'Larry King Live,' 2005.
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