Lance Armstrong won a record seven consecutive Tour de France titles before being stripped of them following doping accusations in 2012
Lance Armstrong’s reputation was tarnished by his doping scandal, but he hasn’t stayed out of the spotlight.
The retired athlete was one of the most famous professional athletes of all time, elevating cycling’s international popularity. The height of Armstrong’s career came after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996, when he was 25. After chemotherapy treatment, he founded the nonprofit Livestrong, won a record seven consecutive Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005, reached A-list levels of celebrity and became known for his philanthropy.
He spent a decade denying that he took performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) before coming clean in a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey. During the sit-down, he admitted to using testosterone, human growth hormone and EPO and taking blood transfusions.
“This story was so perfect for so long. It’s this myth, this perfect story, and it wasn’t true,” he told Winfrey. “I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times, and as you said, it wasn’t as if I just said no and I moved off it.”
The tell-all came shortly after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) formally charged him with doping. Armstrong chose not to appeal and was stripped of all his titles since 1998, including the Tour de France wins and his Olympic medal. He also lost endorsement deals and was required to pay a $5 million settlement to the U.S. government in 2018.
