After a very torrid year for Lance Edward Armstrong in which he was stripped off his 7 Toure de France
titles, banned from the tournament for life, had his sponsors calling back for their
funds, enduring public ridicule and rocking the entire cycling world, he has finally
confessed to Oprah Winfrey during an interview Monday to using performance
enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France.
An emotional laden Lance Armstrong admitted using steroids
followed by an apology to the staff of the Livestrong Foundation that left many
of them in tears. The full version of the confession is billed to be released
and broadcast Thursday night.
This finally marks the end of a decade of continual denial by
Lance Armstrong to the use of performance enhancing drugs.
Oprah tweeted afterwards: “Just wrapped with (at)lancearmstrong
More than 2 ½ hours. He came READY!”
The world of cycling was rocked repeatedly when Dutch Bank
Rabobank which began its involvement in pro cycling 17 years ago, and other
high profile sponsors announced the end to their sponsorship of pro cycling teams
in the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
He founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 1997 which has
a vision of supporting people affected by cancer by raising awareness of cancer and has raised $325 million from the sale of the yellow Livestrong bracelets. Lance eventually
stepped down as chairman of Livestrong on the backdrop of losing endorsement deals
with Nike and Anheuser-Busch. While he was chairman at Livestrong he turned it
into a globally acclaimed institution and charity because of the strength of
his celebrity status and a survivor of cancer.
Lance is a superhuman and has recorded an aerobic capacity of 83.8 mL/kg/min (VO2
max), much higher than the average person (40 – 50) with a maximum heart rate
of 201 beats per minute (bpm) and a resting heart rate of 32 – 34 bpm.
Lance is human afterall. After years of denial, he finally told the truth. Cycling seems to be the sports with the highest usage of drugs.
ReplyDeleteGist is rife that he could also name other users and get lesser sanction to the lifetime ban ... I commend him still. He proved to be a super human and someone that rebounded from a cancer scare. Though he used his celebrity status as a result of his dope-plagued achievements to influence funding for his Livestrong foundation.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad... He made people donate money to his foundation instead of other cancer charity organisations who would have benefited from these donations, and this was because they believed in him; what he portrayed himself to be. He has betrayed the sports, cycling and all other honest athletes. He lied to the US Govt., his people, families, supporters, fans, fellow cyclers, disappointed so many who looked up to him, who he was an inspiration to. With the libel sue, he should be sued right back… How long has he benefited financially – millions of dollars, all based on false pretense! Who knows how much more crimes he’s committed?
ReplyDelete... It is so unforgiving that he did all this in his career because everyone out there saw him as a hero
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