Washington: Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong failed to convince many people he was truly sorry for his actions during his televised confession to cheating his way to a record seven Tour de France titles by using drugs, according to an opinion poll.
Armstrong, 41, admitted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey last week that he used performance-enhancing drugs and lied about it for over decade, finally owning up to being at the centre of one of the biggest drug scandals in world sport.
Only 12 percent of 1,240 Americans surveyed in an Ipsos poll for Reuters, conducted between January 18 to 22, said Armstrong appeared genuinely remorseful when confronted by Oprah.
Nearly half of the respondents, or 48 percent, said Armstrong had only come clean as he could no longer continue to deny it and a third said it was a bid to rebuild his shattered image.
The scandal has pushed Armstrong to the bottom of a list of 12 world-class athletes, in terms of reputation, with seven out of 10 people, or 71 percent, saying he was a bad role model for children.
A majority of people, 57 percent, said Armstrong should be banned from competing in racing in the future. REUTERS
