Lance Armstrong: The Fall of a Hero

Listen to the following video and fill in the gaps.

Oprah Winfrey: Did you ____ take ________substances to _______ your cycling performance?
Lance Armstrong: "Yes."
Was one of those ______ substances EPO?

"Yes."

Did you ever ____ dope or use ____  _______to enhance your cycling performance?

"Yes."

Did you ever use any other banned substances such as testosterone, cortisone or Human Growth Hormone?

"Yes."
In all ______ of your Tour de France victories, did you ever take ________________?   "Yes."

Was it ________ possible to win the Tour de France without doping, seven times?

"Not in my opinion.
When did your first start doping?________________________________________________
For 13 years you didn't just _______ it, you brazenly and defiantly ________ everything you just admitted just now. So __________________

"That is the best question. It's the most logical question. I don't know that I have a great answer. I will start my answer by saying that _______________. It's too late for probably most people, and ____________. I viewed this situation as one ____    ______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."

You were defiant, you _________________________________

"I understand that. And while I lived through this process, especially the last two years, one year, six months, two, three months, I know the truth. The truth isn't what was out there. ____________________, and now it's gone - this story was so perfect for so long. And I mean that, as I try to take myself out of the situation and I look at it. You _____________, you win the Tour de France seven times. You have ______________, you have children. I mean, it's just this __________________, and it ______________."

Was it hard ______________________________?
"Impossible. Certainly I'm a flawed character, as I well know, and I couldn't do that."
But didn't you help paint that picture?
"Of course, I did. And a lot of people did. All the fault and all ________________. But behind that picture and behind that story is momentum. Whether it's fans or whether it's the media, it just gets going. And I lost myself in all of that. I'm sure there would be other people that couldn't handle it, but I certainly _____________________ and I was used to _______________________. I controlled every outcome in my life."
You said to me earlier you don't think it was possible to win without doping?
"Not in that generation, and I'm not here to talk about others in that generation. It's been well-documented. I didn't invent the culture, but ________________________, and _____________, and that's what I have to be sorry for, and that's what something and the sport is now paying the price because of that. So I am sorry for that. I didn't have access to anything else that nobody else did."

Usada issued a 164-page report. CEO Travis Tygart said you and US Postal team pulled off the most sophisticated, professional and successful doping programme sport has ever seen. Was it?

"No. It definitely was professional, and it was definitely smart, if you can call it that, but it was very ______________, very risk-averse, very _________ of what mattered. One race mattered for me. But to say that that program was bigger than the East German doping program in the '70s and '80s? That's not true."
What was the culture? Can you explain the culture to us?
"___________________________. I don't want to talk about anybody else. I made my decisions. They are my mistake, and I am sitting here today to acknowledge that and to say I'm sorry for that. The culture was what it was."
Was everybody doing it? That's what we've heard. Was everybody doing it?
"I didn't know everybody. _________________________. I didn't race with everybody. I can't say that. There will be people that say that. There will be people that say, 'OK, there are 200 guys on the tour, _________________________________, and those are the five heroes', and they're right."
What do you think of those guys, now you call them heroes, but what do you think of those guys that at the time when you were riding who were riding clean. Do you think they were ...? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
( If you want to read the full interview, here you have the transcript in this link.LANCE ARMSTRONG. Ophra´s interview. Transcript)

In this part of the interview Armstrong talks about " the culture". What is he making reference to?What do you think of doping in sports? Do you think it affects most of the sports? Discuss pros and cons of using performance-enhancing drugs

Have a look at this link and do in class  the speaking activities related to the topic we have been discussing
https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=79CFF252BEEA0A7D!303&app=PowerPoint&authkey=!ALG8a95Emk_-Qk4