Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has admitted using performance-enhancing drugs during all seven of his Tour de France wins and could now face a number of legal challenges.
The 41-year-old made the admission during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired on Thursday in the United States.
"I view this situation as one big lie I repeated a lot of times," he said. "I made those decisions, they were my mistake and I'm here to say sorry."
Armstrong said his seven consecutive Tour of France titles won between 1999 and 2005 were fuelled by various drugs, reversing years of denials.
He admitted that he doesn't believe he could have won them without it, but denied it was "sport's biggest doping programme", saying: "It was smart, if you can call it that, but it was conservative."
When asked directly whether he used performance-enhancing drugs, he replied: "Yes".
He also said "Yes" to a series of questions about whether he used specific drugs, including the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO), blood doping, testosterone and said he had blood transfusions.
Armstrong told Oprah Winfrey he began using performance-enhancing drugs early in his career and did not feel bad it, saying others in his generation took drugs also.
"I didn't invent the culture, but I didn't try to stop the culture."
The American sued a number of people who spoke out about him. He admits that he was a bully, saying other riders in his team could have felt pressured to use performance-enhancing drugs. However, he denied that he did encourage them to dope.
"It's a major flaw and it's a guy who expected to get whatever he wanted and to control every outcome and it's inexcusable. And when I say that there are people that will hear this and will never forgive me, I understand that."
Armstrong said he would spend the rest of his life trying to win back people's trust.
Armstrong could face criminal charges
Radio New Zealand's US correspondent Nina Maria Potts says Lance Armstrong's admission that he used drugs could see him facing criminal charges.
In 2005, Armstrong swore in a US court that he had never taken performance-enhancing drugs and Thursday's confession leaves him open to perjury charges, which carry a sentence of five years, she told Checkpoint.
Former teammate Floyd Landers has filed court action against Armstrong, alleging that he defrauded taxpayers for sponsorship and the Justice Department is looking at whether to join that suit.
Meanwhile, an American firm is demanding that Lance Armstrong pay back $US12 million following his admission that he used drugs.
Texas-based company SCA Promotions said it would sue him if he did not repay bonus money it paid out for his Tour de France wins, Reuters reports. Included in that is $US7.5 million it paid Armstrong for winning his sixth Tour crown in 2004.
SCA had initially refused to pay up due to doping claims. But Armstrong successfully sued the company in 2006 when it withheld the payment after allegations against him surfaced.
Stripped of titles, Olympic medal
Lance Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France titles last year after being labelled a "serial cheat" by the US Anti-Doping Agency.
The agency said he led "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme sport has ever seen", the BBC reports.
The American decided not to contest the charges, saying he was tired of fighting the allegations, but at the time strongly denied doping.
He retired from cycling in 2005, but returned to the sport between 2009 and 2012. In October last year, he was banned for life by the International Cycling Union.
Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee has stripped Armstrong of his 2000 Olympic Games cycling time trial bronze medal won in Sydney.
