The Two Words Armstrong Won't Say
He is one of the best athletes the planet earth has ever seen. But all this time, was Lance Armstrong racing towards victory, or cycling away from the truth?
The truth caught him, for all the world to see, and now there is just one last hurdle for Lance. And it will no doubt be the toughest.
A week after the United States AntiDoping Agency showed the world its evidence in the doping case against Armstrong, claiming he was at the centre of an organized doping program on his Tour de France winning teams, Armstrong stepped down on Wednesday as chairman of Livestrong, his cancer foundation.
Nike,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the company that had his back for over ten year's worth of doping allegations, was quick behind. They decided to unceremoniously terminate his contract.
Neither of these decisions will keep me up at night,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], in fact they should have been done weeks ago.
However! what is sorely lacking from all of Wednesday's announcements are two words that should leave Armstrong's lips and echo around the cycling stratosphere.
The time has come for the seventime Tour De France winner to come clean and by doing so allow his sport the healing process that it needs if it is ever to restore a shred of credibility.
As part of their exit, Nike expressed doubts about Armstrong's credibility.
The company's statement reading like the words of a scorned woman that had finally woken up to her husband's infidelity:
"Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," the statement said. "Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner. Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer."
And what of those people that have been affected by cancer? Are they not owed the truth in all of this? Should they not be made aware that their socalled hero doped in order to achieve notoriety,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]?
All Armstrong could give them was a prepared statement that gave the illusion of nobility:
"I have had the great honor of serving as this foundation's chairman for the last five years and its mission and success are my top priorities," Armstrong said in a statement. "Today, therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship."
That was it. No confession. No admission of guilt.
Thomas Bach, a lawyer who heads the IOC's juridical commission and will be a possible IOC presidential candidate next year, also urged Armstrong to make a full confession.
Disgraced cyclist Tyler Hamilton, one of 11 former Armstrong teammates who agreed to testify against him, thinks that the weight of his coverup will finally break Armstrong down.
"I'd be surprised if he didn't confess in some way some day because to continue with the denial,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], it's a heavy, heavy weight," he told Reuters."If he [Armstrong] tells the truth there will be consequences but in the long term, he's gonna be better off. People will forgive. People don't wanna hold grudges forever. People will forgive the guy."
Hamilton is right, people will forgive. And because of the good work Armstrong did via his charity, people may even forget. In order to have that happen though, Armstrong must finally swallow his foolish pride.
It will be hard for a man who has only known how to win, who can only fathom adulation and global praise, but it has to be done. If LiveStrong is to indeed live on, if cycling is going to pedal on without public cynicism, Lance has to "Just Do It."
I cheated. I did it. And then we can all move on.
All of the sporting world is mired in drug use and will continue to be so as long as athletes are paid astronomical sums to PLAY rather than work for a living. I say stop wasting money testing and wringing your hands and let them all use as much of the stuff as they want. It's their bodies they are misusing and a few will suffer major or indeed catastrophic consequences from drug use but they are all big boys and they should have the freedom to have at it. The various sporting bodies who are doing the most whining are the ones who will be out of a useless job should we throw the doors open to drug enhanced performance. The IOC, FIFA and other professional bodies are as big crooks as the offending athletes and the sooner they are kicked out the better for all. On with the "Testosterone Games".
My daughter use to go to the company picnic every year and would inevitably lose in a "balance the egg on a spoon" race because many of the kids would just hold the egg in place with their thumb and run.
After about 2 years of losing, I noticed that my daughter put her thumb on the egg and won the race. When I asked her about the thumb trick, she said she was tired of losing all the time.
From what I have read, Lance was tired of losing as well and just evened the playing field. I really don't see anything wrong with this since obviously the race officials were inept and/or powerless to stop the cheaters.
Frankly, he represents what is good about America namely winning.
Canada on the other hand would hold a Dublin inquiry and get to the bottom of it while in the meantime the ot her countries would be collecting gold medals while still cheating. Which way is better? I would say that there is charm to both methods with a slight edge to Canada.
And how proud of your daughter would you be if she boldly told you that she did not cheat, anyone who said she did cheat was a liar and conspirator? She she conspire and have all the people on her team cheat and after they admitted it, your daughter still called them liars?t At your daughter admitted she did the same thing. Are you seriously going to tell me that you did not use that moment to instill values and honesty? Winning by cheating is superior to integrity and character? Just how proud of Madoff are you? Any thoughts on crime, stealing, etc. Cheating is exactly like stealing . you are taking something away from someone. The excuse "everyone else does it so I did too" is heading downhill (wait till she does not come home at curfew because everyone else was staying). The only one who did not use that lame excuse was Adam. Nope . he said Eve gave him the apple. Ooops . she said the snake did it. I guess sinning is fine . everyone does it.
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