Lance Armstrong Quotes

I never took banned substances, but I have been courted by doctors who wanted to improve my blood in the laboratory. My mother always put them on a flight.

If you look at the sponsors who were in the sport 15 years ago compared to now there are a lot fewer. Why? Because those runners who took drugs tainted the sport. They tainted all of us in it.

I know it is possible to win the Tour without taking anything.

I had no interest in steroids. I didn't need them, and I didn't want them. I never wanted them. From the get-go, I've frequently mouthed off about their negative impact on the game.

It is cycling as a professional sport that represents the problem. It can transform someone into a liar.

Steroids are for guys who want to cheat opponents.

I'm for a drug-free sport and always will be.

Once and for all, I did not use steroids or any other illegal substance.

These days the temptation to use steroids in sports has become too great for many young athletes.

My guess is many top athletes, distance runners included, use performance-enhancing drugs, enough so that the problem must be tackled.

I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids.

What we've seen this season is that if something that will enhance performance is available, some players will indulge... unless the penalty is an absolute deterrent.

For professional athletes, the motives for cheating generally are more obvious: money, fame, and often a low likelihood of being caught. But why would a middle- or back-of-the-pack runner lie or cheat in a race that doesn't even matter?

My message to fans... I'm running clean.

I personally don't think guys should get multiple chances when guys fail a steroid test.

The sad thing about doping is how much it obscures our appreciation of greatness.

I can definitely say the same thing [discussing Steffi Graf's claim that she had played against at least one top player who used steroids]. Steroids can really make a difference, physically and mentally. I'd be really disappointed if I had been ranked No. 2 behind someone who took steroids.

That's the result of the black cloud on baseball, .. Until it's rid of steroids, people are naturally going to think that.

It's no secret what's going on in baseball. At least half the players are using steroids.

Why should sports men and women get punished harsher than people in the normal world?

It is essential that we put an end to steroid abuse and set a better example for aspiring young athletes to follow, so that some day, when they make it in the All Star Game, it will be because of their own natural talents, and not because of a performance enhancing product.

The safety argument against steroids may be a good one, but let's be honest. It isn't the one that motivates most officials and fans to frown on steroids. Steroid use does not just seem risky or unnatural, it seems to disrupt the level playing field.

That's what Major League Baseball's steroid scandal was all about, the hidden harm in competitive sports that sends the wrong message to the young.

Drug use, within entire teams continues unabated. It is planned and deliberate cheating, with complex methods, sophisticated substances and techniques, and the active complicity of doctors, scientists, team officials and riders. There is nothing accidental about it.

When I went to the starting line of the 1976 Olympic marathon in Montreal, it was with the unsettling conviction that some of my competitors were cheaters.