I knew this day would come.
I knew this day would come, and yet I naively hoped it wouldn't. I guarded against this day fiercely, insulating myself from the reality of what the implications of this day would be. All the while, I knew this day was coming - no amount of hope could suppress the fear that I felt over its coming. I knew that, when this day came, my foundations would be shaken, my hope broken and my illusions shattered.
The day has finally dawned. Fourteen years of persecution ended today when Lance Armstrong gave up the fight and refused to challenge the US Anti-Doping Agency's charge of doping against him. The greatest ever Tour de France cyclist has, today, capitulated and allowed his 7 titles to be stripped from his name. It is the decision of a tired man - a guilty man - for the choice not to fight is all but a direct admission of guilt. It is the action of a Lance Armstrong I do not know. The resigned acquiescence of this renowned fighter is too disheartening to bear. The ferocity and tenacity of the man who won 7 Tour de France titles is gone, replaced by a meek shell of his former self. Lance's decision not to fight is crushing. I can no longer see the man I so admired in this resigned, tired version of Lance Armstrong. The UCI and USADA have got what they wanted.
They've got what they wanted. The head of Lance has long been their White Whale and now they have it. But at what cost? Every year, around the time of the Tour de France, fresh allegations of doping are brought up against Lance Armstrong and every year - until now, that is - they have been refuted. They were so intent on proving that he was a cheat that they lost sight of the consequences thereof. When Lance has his seven titles stripped from his name, it will solidify the last 14 years as the worst sporting period in the history of cycling. Nine Tour de Frances will have had the winner stripped of his title in this period.
Year in and year out Lance has been tested and re-tested, accused and re-accused, labeled a cheat and a fraud. On Twitter today I saw a comment that reminded me of the mentality that drove this process. It read: "Lance Armstrong confirmed as the world's greatest cheat."
This mentality is the exact reason that Lance was constantly scrutinised. The UCI wanted him to be a cheat - they wanted to prove that he had gamed the system, broken the rules and come out on top. The couldn't accept his domination of the sport; in their minds he had doped, all that remained was to prove it. And so, years after Lance's retirement, his urine from his victorious Tours was still being tested in the hope that something would be found. The testing and allegations would not stop until his guilt was proven.
Lance Armstrong doped. It is the first time that I have allowed myself to acknowledge this simple observation. I've always denied it, saying that he is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Until he had been proven to have doped, I would not believe that he had cheated. I couldn't allow myself to do so. I could not tarnish the image of my hero. Lance Armstrong, to me, could not have been guilty - not after all of those tests came out negative. Today, however, I came to realise something - innocent or guilty - it does not matter!
Whether he was innocent of doping or whether he played the system so well as to not be caught: it does not matter. The farcical pursuit of condemnation of Lance Armstrong could only have one outcome for the sport of cycling: a lost of integrity. The integrity is gone. By pursuing their cause to this point - 7 years after Lance's famous, final, unprecedented seventh victory of the Tour de France - the powers that be in cycling have dug the grave of this fantastic sport. It is a sport already mired in controversy over doping, but it is one of the greatest spectacles on earth. The determination and ability of these few elite cyclists is a gripping display of human possibility and no cyclist embodied that display better than Lance Armstrong. Cycling cannot recover fully from what has now been done to it.
The damage has been done, the die has been cast. Cycling has been dealt a heavy blow by the very organisations that administrate it. Critics and doubters have got what they wanted. The USADA has got what it wanted. The UCI has got what it wanted. But nobody has realised that they have not got what they needed. Cycling needed a hero, a champion to inspire a following. That hero was Lance Armstrong. That hero has been ruined.
I knew this day would come, and yet I naively hoped it wouldn't. I guarded against this day fiercely, insulating myself from the reality of what the implications of this day would be. All the while, I knew this day was coming - no amount of hope could suppress the fear that I felt over its coming. I knew that, when this day came, my foundations would be shaken, my hope broken and my illusions shattered.
The day has finally dawned. Fourteen years of persecution ended today when Lance Armstrong gave up the fight and refused to challenge the US Anti-Doping Agency's charge of doping against him. The greatest ever Tour de France cyclist has, today, capitulated and allowed his 7 titles to be stripped from his name. It is the decision of a tired man - a guilty man - for the choice not to fight is all but a direct admission of guilt. It is the action of a Lance Armstrong I do not know. The resigned acquiescence of this renowned fighter is too disheartening to bear. The ferocity and tenacity of the man who won 7 Tour de France titles is gone, replaced by a meek shell of his former self. Lance's decision not to fight is crushing. I can no longer see the man I so admired in this resigned, tired version of Lance Armstrong. The UCI and USADA have got what they wanted.
They've got what they wanted. The head of Lance has long been their White Whale and now they have it. But at what cost? Every year, around the time of the Tour de France, fresh allegations of doping are brought up against Lance Armstrong and every year - until now, that is - they have been refuted. They were so intent on proving that he was a cheat that they lost sight of the consequences thereof. When Lance has his seven titles stripped from his name, it will solidify the last 14 years as the worst sporting period in the history of cycling. Nine Tour de Frances will have had the winner stripped of his title in this period.
Year in and year out Lance has been tested and re-tested, accused and re-accused, labeled a cheat and a fraud. On Twitter today I saw a comment that reminded me of the mentality that drove this process. It read: "Lance Armstrong confirmed as the world's greatest cheat."
This mentality is the exact reason that Lance was constantly scrutinised. The UCI wanted him to be a cheat - they wanted to prove that he had gamed the system, broken the rules and come out on top. The couldn't accept his domination of the sport; in their minds he had doped, all that remained was to prove it. And so, years after Lance's retirement, his urine from his victorious Tours was still being tested in the hope that something would be found. The testing and allegations would not stop until his guilt was proven.
Lance Armstrong doped. It is the first time that I have allowed myself to acknowledge this simple observation. I've always denied it, saying that he is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Until he had been proven to have doped, I would not believe that he had cheated. I couldn't allow myself to do so. I could not tarnish the image of my hero. Lance Armstrong, to me, could not have been guilty - not after all of those tests came out negative. Today, however, I came to realise something - innocent or guilty - it does not matter!
Whether he was innocent of doping or whether he played the system so well as to not be caught: it does not matter. The farcical pursuit of condemnation of Lance Armstrong could only have one outcome for the sport of cycling: a lost of integrity. The integrity is gone. By pursuing their cause to this point - 7 years after Lance's famous, final, unprecedented seventh victory of the Tour de France - the powers that be in cycling have dug the grave of this fantastic sport. It is a sport already mired in controversy over doping, but it is one of the greatest spectacles on earth. The determination and ability of these few elite cyclists is a gripping display of human possibility and no cyclist embodied that display better than Lance Armstrong. Cycling cannot recover fully from what has now been done to it.
The damage has been done, the die has been cast. Cycling has been dealt a heavy blow by the very organisations that administrate it. Critics and doubters have got what they wanted. The USADA has got what it wanted. The UCI has got what it wanted. But nobody has realised that they have not got what they needed. Cycling needed a hero, a champion to inspire a following. That hero was Lance Armstrong. That hero has been ruined.
