Lance Armstrong was considered one of the greatest
cyclists of all time. With an
unprecedented 7 Tour de France wins, he was the most famous cyclist of our era
with an amazing story of success when the odds were against him. He had overcome testicular cancer and became
a symbol of hope for many cancer patients.
Throughout his career, there was another story forming, however.
Despite consistently denying doping
allegations, many critics remained skeptical.
These allegations were never conclusive, until earlier this week. On a shocking interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lance
Armstrong admitted to using multiple illicit performance enhancing substances. Armstrong stated that his “cocktail of choice”
was EPO, blood transfusions, and testosterone.
Armstrong thought that he could at least justify the testosterone
considering he had a testicle removed and figured he must have some sort of
deficiency.
Although
he put all of the blame on himself, he believed that he needed to dope in order
to win. He went on to say that in his opinion, he felt
it was impossible for a person to accumulate 7 tour de France victories without
doping.
There
are extreme overreactions to this scandal.
In the interview, Lance Armstrong says, “I didn’t invent the culture,
but I didn’t do anything to stop it either,” which is a very good point. Almost every major competitor in cycling
dopes and he does not deserve the insane amount of bad press that he gets.
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ReplyDeleteWhat the heck??? It showed my comment twice and I tried to delete one of them and they both deleted. Basically what I said was that better athletes are going to be held to higher standards by most people, but I think people should realize that Lance is just as human as the no-namer cyclist who is also doping. So while I've lost respect for Armstrong as an athlete and as a person, I don't think that he should be treated any worse than those no-namers would be if they were caught roiding. I mean a lifetime ban from the sport?? Really? What if "John Smith" someone who placed second to last at the last Tour de France was caught doping? A fine/suspension at the max.
ReplyDeleteYes, Armstrong was caught lying after years of claiming not that he would never dope. However, if you would look at the other cyclists in the game, everyone was doing it. I think what we should really focus on is his great story of overcoming testicular cancer and getting back into the game. Also, he founded Live strong, an amazing company that gives support to those with cancer. Hopefully people will remember him for the good he did and will be doing.
ReplyDeleteI cannot decide how I feel about this. Lane Armstrong is obviously one of the greatest comebacks in sports history, but I'm not quite sure if I can get over the fact that he was doping, and constantly denying that fact. I praise him for his determination and courage, but I am also disappointed in the fact that he lied. Many other cyclists were doping, so I can understand it a little bit. I find it a little bit odd that he would just now tell the truth about doping. I would have had a much more understanding view of this situation if he would have just been honest immediately. I do feel Lance Armstrong has made an impact on many people's lives, but I also feel that this may hurt his legacy a little bit.
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