He became not a man but a myth: A youngster from a broken home in Texas, raised by a single mother, discovers he has a talent for riding a bike. He becomes a brash young upstart challenging all those Euros in a sport they think they own. He falls victim to cancer. He nearly dies. He battles back from death’s to door to get back on his bike. Many scoff. Some laugh. None give him a chance of ever becoming a competitive cyclist again. Then he wins the Tour and goes on two win six more, the most ever. Along the way, he becomes incredibly rich and incredibly famous.
It is an American story. A Horatio Alger cycling tale.
And now it has all come tumbling down. The spoil sports with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) have revealed that all seven Tour victories came thanks in part to an expensive and complicated doping program that involved not just Armstrong but his whole team, with Armstrong serving as the chief dope pusher. Armstrong continues to deny this (more on why later), but the USADA case is a slam dunk. Many of Armstrong’s former buddies in the U.S. Postal Service/Discovery team have already confessed their involvement. Some of them have put the smoking syringe in Armstrong’s hand. The financial records tying Armstrong to notorious Italian doping doctor Michele Ferrari are there.
Armstrong doped. You’d have to be a dope to believe otherwise. Even Armstrong appears to have tacitly accepted this reality.
A man who once vehemently protested against the rumors of doping that followed him throughout his career, he strangely made no protestations of his innocence at a gala for the Livestrong charity in Austin Friday night.
“During the last few days a lot of people have asked me how I am doing. And I’ll tell you, I’ve been better, but I’ve been worse,” said the newly resigned chairman of the Livestrong board. “It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for me and my family, my friends and this foundation. We will not be deterred. We will move forward.... I just have one last request. Let’s have a hell of a good time tonight.”Not a word there about what Armstrong’s lawyers have previously called a USADA “witch hunt.” Could it be because there was no such thing or because the USADA in this case found an actual witch? Whichever the case, Armstrong now has a huge public relations problem, and all the experts agree the only way out is for him to admit what he has done and seek forgiveness.
But you didn’t need a PR expert to tell you that now, did you?
The reaction might not be at all bad if Armstrong tomorrow said this:
I won those seven Tours because we trained the hardest, we raced the smartest, and we put together a better doping program than any other team in the race. Yes, we cheated, but everyone was cheating. And I decided that if we were going to win, we were going to have to run not only the best cycling program on the bike, but the best medical program off the bike. And we did. All those European cyclists are mad today because we beat them at all levels of their sport, and there is no doubt doping was one level of that sport.I have no doubt a fair part of the country would listen to that and say, “Yo! Go Lance!
Only Armstrong can’t say this. Why not? Money.
by Craig Medred, Alaska Dispatch | Read more:
Photo: Cheridan Chard
