FRANCOIS LENOIR/REUTERS/2005
Well, it’s over. 13 years of dominance, accusations, bullying, cheating, lying and false hope ended last night with the airing of Lance Armstrong’s admission to using performance enhancing drugs.
Another hit was dealt to the no-longer-fragile hope of sports fans-a hope that heroes can really be heroes. A hope that human beings can regular human beings can do extraordinary things like hit 80 home runs or win 14 majors or win an unprecedented seven straight Tour de France titles after overcoming a nasty bout with cancer. A hope that maybe a sports icon could transcend sports and lift millions of people going through the hardest times of their lives.
All of that is broken.
Eerily similar to the way that Tiger Woods delivered a series of canned responses after being backed into a corner, Lance delivered an almost cold rendition of responses when Oprah asked the tough questions:
Oprah Winfrey: Did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance?
Lance Armstrong: “Yes.”
OW: Was one of those banned substances EPO?
LA: “Yes.”
OW: Did you ever blood dope or use blood transfusions to enhance your cycling performance?
LA: “Yes.”
OW: Did you ever use any other banned substances such as testosterone, cortisone or Human Growth Hormone?
LA: “Yes.”
OW: In all seven of your Tour de France victories, did you ever take banned substances or blood dope?
LA: “Yes.”
OW: Was it humanly possible to win the Tour de France without doping, seven times?
LA: “Not in my opinion. That generation. I didn’t invent the culture, but I didn’t try to stop the culture.”
In seven yeses Armstrong confirmed the truth that he had long hidden. The truth that he turned on others and used to ruin their lives in order to enhance his. The ice in his eyes was similar to the look we have seen over the past decade as he has denied the flood of claims indicting him.
The worst part isn’t even anything that happened on a bike. The fact that he doped in order to win the world’s most grueling bike race seven times in a row pales in comparison to the lives he ruined and the millions of cancer patients and survivors he let down. He sued teammates, friends, and journalists, bullying them into coercion.
I was indifferent to Lance’s doping until I read this.
As sports fans, often we have to look past the dark side of sports in order to be able to enjoy them. Every sport has become a contest to get an edge, however unfair, over the opponent. Every sport has competitors who care less about integrity and more about the fame and fortune that come with legend. But this went so much deeper. The victims here weren’t just his opponents or cycling fans. The victims here are people whose lives were ruined. Their character was called into question, and they were bullied by one of the biggest bullies of all-time. Their motives were questioned, while a blind eye was turned from the man who was changing how we view cancer. The victims were Rick Reilly and others who supported Lance’s integrity, putting it above even their own, convinced that he could do no wrong.
The victims are the millions of people who have looked up to a survivor, only to realize now that they fostered false hope in the most vile of human beings. While he changed lives of cancer patients everywhere, he has now changed our ability to trust and hope-something he can’t give back no matter how “sorry” he is.
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Braeden,
I have no sympathy for Lance Armstrong. He lied, cheated, and stole. His entire life is full of lies and his reputation is built on deceit and fraud. However, the most telling answer in the part of the interview you quoted was where he said "I didn't invent the culture, but I didn't try to stop the culture."
That is telling of a much larger problem. Armstrong isn't the first Tour de France winner to be stripped of his titles. He isn't the first one to be caught. In essence, this is an ongoing problem that exists throughout the cycling community. Take a look at this NYTimes piece on doping in the Tour De France http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/24/sports/top-finishers-of-the-tour-de-france-tainted-by-doping.html
In all, of the top finishers in the race, many have admitted to doping or have been connected with doping. Armstrong isn't the first. My only hope is that he will be the last. Yet, there doesn't seem to be much hope for that.
I remember being on my LDS Mission in France when a doping scandal hit the race. People were upset. This was their race, and now it was tainted. Stricter measures were called for, more testing was done, yet here we are with the race mired in another doping scandal. This is a problem that does not seem to want to be fixed - for reasons unknown to me, but undoubtedly the entire cycling "culture", as Armstrong puts it, is steeped in doping.
Armstrong will be dealt with. His reputation is destroyed, he is banned from cycling, mountain biking, triathlons, he will likely face bankruptcy in the face of the millions that have changed hands in and around his cycling career and reputation. However, unless people are willing to demand more from the Tour officials and the entire cycling community, we are only a short matter of time away from the next doping scandal.
@micahbruner @micahbruner It's cool to get a glimpse into what the French think about this all. I hadn't even thought of that angle. As a proud people, in general, I can imagine that they haven't been too happy that their race has been marred.
That being said, I'm not even that mad about the doping. As sports fans, haven't we had to get used to that (as sad as that sentence is)? Every time something amazing in sports happens, we'd be silly not to question it.
I just can't believe the number of people he squished along the way, with no regard for their lives, feelings or well-bring. Not only that, but he basically said that his entire life, which includes being a hero and inspiration for millions of cancer patients around the globe, has been a lie. He has been adamant about his innocence, and there's no excuse for the type of human being he is-even outside of the doping scandal.
Thanks for your thoughts!