“The greater they
are, the harder they fall”. A saying often used in daily life and a saying that
best sums up the entire Armstrong saga.
Lance Armstrong (born
Lance Edward Gunderson;
September 18, 1971) was an American icon, a legend. A role model of the old “Never
say Die” American spirit. As a cancer patient of I personally know the pain,
the trauma, the hardship he must have been through. He was a role model for us
cancer patients. He proved that there could be a life for us. It was no simple reason I chose to go to Live
Strong Foundation, his cancer support organization.
When Lance Armstrong celebrated his
record-breaking seventh Tour de France title in
I was basking in the glory of this
legend as any fan would. People believed that after he was diagnosed with
cancer, it was the end of his career. But boy did they underestimate him.
Of his 7 Tour de France victories only
two were won before he was diagnosed with cancer. The rest were won after his
comeback. A testatement to the will power and mental strength of the man.
For
much of his career, Armstrong faced persistent allegations of doping. Armstrong
denied all such allegations until January 2013, often claiming that he never
had any positive test in the approximately 600 drug tests he has taken over his
cycling career. As a fan I was oblivious to all this nonsense. It is a basic
fact about humans: We tend to find solace by thinking or idolizing something or
someone in order to feel good about ourselves and to ignore our deficiencies. I
idolized Lance Armstrong.
Until
14th January, 2013. On this day Armstrong publically admitted to
have used performance enhancing drugs on a talk show. Suddenly my whole world crumbled down. I did
not know who to believe in anymore. And I knew that these wre not only my
sentiments. There were others out there who could understand how I felt.
I still hoped that all this was a joke. His lawyers had
declared Usada's report a witch-hunt, a persecution of their client "based
largely on axe-grinders, serial perjurers, coerced testimony, sweetheart deals
and threat-induced stories". The 1,000 pages of forensic evidence would
suggest otherwise. Armstrong acolytes such as myself might scoff at the
testimony of self-confessed dopers Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis, even if
others would not. But the wording of the USADA report shook my belief.
"The USPS Team
doping conspiracy," stated chief executive Travis Tygart, "was
professionally designed to groom and pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs,
to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair
competitive advantage through superior doping practices."
Armstrong, it was
made clear, was not a helpless pawn forced by others to cheat to keep up. He
was an instigator, a ring-leader and a pioneer.
My belief in humanity
has been shattered. We live in a world of lies, greed and cruelty. And I’m sure
there will be may such cases in the future.
The following quote by a certain journalist comes to mind when I think
about Lance Armstrong
“Armstrong, a
modern-day American icon way beyond the narrow confines of his tainted sport,
is accused of not just fixing a race, or a match, or even a season. He has
fixed an era. He has doped a nation.”
RAVI KIRAN,
HR,
IBC.
No comments:
Post a Comment