Chapter 1: What led to Lance Armstrong's rise in professional cycling?
Remember when Lance Armstrong fooled the world into thinking he wasn't doing drugs when he was totally doing drugs? Did he ever go to prison for that? Well the story of course starts with Lance. And Lance is about 24 when all this begins and he's living in Texas. And see, Lance loves cycling.
Like he's already competed in multiple national and international cycling tournaments and he's won a few of them. But here's the thing about him. He actually uses performance enhancing drugs to help him race better, which are obviously banned in professional cycling. But a lot of people don't know this about him. They think he's just an exceptional guy who's really good on a bicycle.
But then one day in 1996, something terrible happens to him. He gets diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer. And to make it worse, the cancer has already spread to his brain, his abdomen, and his lungs. And so he undergoes several surgeries and many rounds of chemotherapy. And because of that, he has to step away from cycling completely. And this really sucks for him.
I mean, cycling is his whole life. But then, months go by, and it's now 1997. And something incredible happens. After all that surgery and chemotherapy, Lance officially beats cancer and is finally declared cancer-free. And of course, now Lance decides it's time to go back to professional cycling. So he joins the U.S. Postal Service pro cycling team and they give him a new contract.
And just like that, Lance is officially back on the bike. Now, normally you'd expect that after surviving cancer, after getting a second chance at life, basically, he would choose to stay away from drugs completely. But of course, that's not what he does. No, no, he's trying to win. He goes right back to using banned substances to help him compete better and win more often.
And to his credit, it actually works. By 1999, just two years after beating cancer, he races and wins the Tour de France, which is considered the biggest competition in the sport of cycling. And after this victory, Lance blows the up and he becomes insanely popular with a
ton of fans worldwide i mean people love his story he's a guy who had to quit because he got cancer and then he beat cancer and returned to the sport and he had one of the greatest comebacks ever which is just incredibly inspiring but see lance's story it's not over i mean he's not done yet The next year, the year 2000, he competes in Tour de France again, and he wins again.
Then in 2001, he wins a third time. And with each victory, he's slowly becoming one of the biggest sports icons in America. And this dude is suddenly everywhere. He's on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He's on the box of Wheaties. Here he is on a lunch pail. Here he is on the David Letterman show. Here he is with the president during this time, Bill Clinton.
He even starts dating singer Sheryl Crow.
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Chapter 2: How did Lance Armstrong's cancer diagnosis impact his cycling career?
He also secures massive sponsorship deals, including a sponsorship from Nike worth $40 million. Damn. And during this rise, the cancer foundation he launched years before also starts getting a lot of publicity. The foundation is actually called Livestrong. You might remember when those Livestrong bracelets were popular back in the day. So Lance is on top of the world at this point.
But what the public doesn't know is that behind the scenes, he's still using performance enhancing drugs to boost his cycling game. And the drug testing process, it just isn't that advanced during this time. Plus, Lance has all kinds of ways to manipulate the results of these tests. So the governing bodies are just completely fooled. Now, here's where he finally starts to screw up.
As time goes on, Lance keeps winning. Big races, small races, and the more he wins, the more people start to get suspicious. Like, how could a man go through multiple rounds of chemotherapy and then go on to win the Tour de France multiple times in a row? It just doesn't make sense. And journalists and other people in the business, they start accusing him of doping.
But of course, Lance denies everything. He says, I never did drugs. I'm all natty. And to protect his reputation, he starts aggressively suing people and entities who accuse him of using performance enhancing drugs. And this actually works. He wins some of these lawsuits and some of the people settle with him out of court by paying him a lot of money.
Meanwhile, Lance keeps racing and he keeps winning. He wins Tour de France again in 2002, then again in 2003, then again in 2004, then again in 2005. He wins seven times in a row before he finally decides it's time to retire. But then 2006 hits and something unexpected happens because this guy enters the story. Floyd. See, Floyd, he's a cyclist and he's one of Lance's former teammates.
So in 2006, Floyd races in the Tour de France and he actually wins. In fact, he has an incredible win. The timing and everything just seemed unbelievable. In
fact it seemed so unbelievable that two months later every national and international governing body decides to test him for performance enhancing drugs and boom he tests positive and so they strip him of his title and they suspend him for two years
So then two years go by, and it's now 2008, and by now Floyd's suspension has been fully lifted, and he really wants to get back into professional cycling. However, because his reputation is so damaged at this point, no team wants to sign him. So in 2009, Floyd reaches out to his old teammate Lance, hoping that Lance can help secure him a contract, or at least help him make a comeback.
Now, it's around this time that Lance has actually become bored with retirement and he decides to return to cycling. And of course, because of all the drugs he's taking, he's still really good at it. Like he does the Tour de France again in 2009 and he finishes third, which is really good. So Floyd reaches out to Lance and he's like, hey, can you help a brother get back in the game?
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Chapter 3: What decisions did Lance Armstrong make after beating cancer?
And this story blows the up, and it becomes a huge scandal. So huge, in fact, that the US government has to get involved, and they launch a criminal investigation. But then, two years later, for whatever reason, the government actually drops the criminal charges against Lance. I guess they just didn't have enough evidence to prosecute him in criminal court.
So it looks like Lance might actually get away with everything. On to... Of course Lance isn't going to get away with everything, come on. That same year, 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency steps in, and they aren't about to let all this slide.
And so they launch their own investigation, and they interview multiple teammates and staff members and insiders, and eventually the agency is able to gather an overwhelming amount of evidence that Lance was in fact on performance-enhancing drugs all through his cycling career. And so they ban Lance from cycling for life, and they strip him of all seven Tour de France titles.
And just like that, everything starts collapsing for him. Major sponsors drop him, people he previously sued to keep quiet, now they start suing him back. And eventually, Lance decides it's finally time to come clean. And he sits down for an interview with Oprah, and he admits everything.
Yes or no? Did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance?
Yes. And while he didn't actually go to prison, in total, Lance ended up paying out an estimated $37 million in settlements, penalties, and legal fees due to this whole doping scandal.
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