Lance Armstrong is one of the BBC's faces of the week this week:
<URL:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4468925.stm>
Lance Armstrong's announcement that he'll be hanging up his bicycle
clips after this summer's Tour de France will doubtless have brought a
sigh of relief from his rivals. After all, the Texan has won an
unprecedented six in a row.
The French nation too will be pleased. Though it respects his
brilliance, for too long now there has been Gallic ennui at the seeming
inevitability of the American interloper steaming down their Champs
Elysee, to secure yet another victory in their sacred institution, the
most gruelling bicycle race on earth.
Their displeasure comes despite the extraordinary circumstances in which
Lance Armstrong defied virulent cancer in a testicle, lungs and brain,
to become the most successful pro-cyclist ever.
In his homeland, this has earned him almost mythical status. But La
Belle France has never quite taken Armstrong to its heart.
That the man who failed to finish three of the four Tours he started
before his cancer treatment in 1996, can then win six on the trot, has
fuelled the inevitable rumours that his success has been assisted by
performance-enhancing drugs.
Cries of "dope, dope" often heard in Armstrong's vicinity during the
Tour, are not alluding to any mental deficiencies he might possess.
The Tour de France has reeked of such drugs throughout the century of
its history. Understandable, since the gruelling 2,000-mile race has
been likened to running 20 marathons in 20 days.
In 1998, the event was nearly cancelled after an assistant for the
Festina team was caught with hundreds of vials of EPO, a hormone that
can increase the oxygen supply to the blood.
Stricter testing measures were introduced but with only limited success.
Lance Armstrong is currently engaged in some eight lawsuits with people
who have linked him with drug abuse.
The fact is that Armstrong has never failed a drugs test, and he is
probably the most tested athlete in the world. Inspectors have even
turned up at his house at dawn.
"What am I on?" he once said in a Nike TV commercial. "I'm on my bike
busting my ass six hours a day."
According to Armstrong, cancer changed his whole attitude to his work
and further developed his driven, obsessively competitive nature.
"Before I was diagnosed, I was a slacker... when I got sick, I told
myself: if I get another chance, I'll do this right and I'll work for
something more than just myself."
He set up a cancer foundation, and, last year, began selling yellow
wristbands for a dollar each. They have become a must-have fashion
accessory and, as a result, some $50m have been raised for cancer survivors.
Lance Armstrong was raised in a suburb of Dallas, Texas, by a single
mother who says her son, contrary to his view, was "always trying to
push the boundaries".
He arrived at cycling via the arduous sport of triathlon. In 1987, when
he was 16, he was given a test at Dallas's Cooper Institute to measure
his aerobic ability. His levels were the highest ever recorded at the
clinic.
Today, his heart is almost a third larger than the average for a man.
His pulse when resting is 32.
Famous pals
"I gotta suffer a little every day or I'm not happy," he says. He has
raised the bar for his competitors.
He was the first to go out and rehearse the Tour's most important stages
in advance. Now it is common practice.
Armstrong's somewhat dour image has been brightened by his celebrity
associations. After his marriage broke up, he took up with rock singer
Sheryl Crow.
He counts Bono, Kevin Costner, even George Bush as friends. He has used
fellow cycling devotee Robin Williams as a morale raiser on the team
bus. "If Lance here can do it with one nad, you can do it with two,"
Williams has been known to shout.
Whether the distractions of court cases and the celebrity lifestyle will
count against his winning a seventh successive Tour de France remains to
be seen. His recent form has been patchy.
Lance Armstrong knows that, at 33, his body can't take much more
punishment and he says he's looking forward to spending more time with
his young children and his friends.
One of these, team-mate George Hincapie, has even suggested to the New
York Times that he wouldn't rule Armstrong out of running for Governor
of Texas. If it's true, you wouldn't bet against him winning.
As one of the brightest stars from the Lone Star state, Lance Armstrong
has had bigger mountains to climb.
--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine