In a roller coaster ride for most of his life, it seems to take a lot of extremes for Lance Armstrong to get a buzz.
The only reason we are very aware of his name and his accomplishments was the very thing that finally brought him to his knees.
He was diagnosed with testicular cancer that spread to his lungs and then his brain. That is what we knew of him and we marveled not only that he beat the cancer but that he went on to tackle more impossible things. We were fascinated.
His organizing of Lifestrong, a huge non profit in his home state of Texas, was too good to be true. Lifestrong is still alive and well with assets of over half a billion dollars. It is, however, without the services and recognition of its famous founder, Lance Armstrong.
He resigned from the board.
Armstrong won seven trophies when competing in the Tour de France. This is unheard of. It also is how and why he was brought down with numerous doping charges. He admitted on the OWN network in a conversation with Oprah that he was indeed guilty of injecting himself regularly with steroids, blood boasters and other performance enhancing drugs. This after years of denial.
The USADA came down hard. Not only was he removed from further races but just this week was also ejected from a swimming competition as well. Their explanation was that he would be competing NO MORE in any athletic venture. This was a death knell for Lance. He loves to compete. The powers that be wants that to include all sports, not just biking.
He had managed to make himself an unchallenged celebrity and one that had become quite wealthy, His Lifestrong foundation is worth an estimated 459,000,000 million dollars. His personal worth is estimated at just over $100,000,000. but he owes more than that if he is made to repay all the law suits against him by supporters, like the Dallas Sports Insurance Company, USPS and so many more. All of the companies he represented in promotion of their products want their money back as well.
Indeed he has won by beating cancer in the first place but life as he knew it in the aftermath is a non event for now. Now he can shoot up on testosterone and the other performance enhancing drugs and no one will care (except perhaps by the federal government). Maybe not but maybe. Someone has to supply them.
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