This morning, I woke up to a sad news. A legend I had
been hearing tales since childhood had fallen……to disgrace.
A fighter and seven-time Tour de France champion Lance
Armstrong has been stripped off his 7 titles and has been slapped a lifetime
ban from cycling. But they will never be able to strip him off his fans. Fans,
who love him, as a sportsman, as a fighter and as a survivor.
The US Anti Doping Agency claims on hearsay basis (is
that even valid?) that all these years Armstrong had been using performance
enhancing drugs. Without any trials, the USADA has declared a presumed verdict.
And all this happens when Armstrong has never failed in any dope test. So has the
USADA proved science wrong?
Though we don’t know the truth, we might never know it,
for Armstrong has called it quits. He is not going to challenge the verdict. He
has decided to move on. In his words ‘Enough is enough.’ He moves on dedicating
his life to his family and a cause he has been supporting even before he won a
Tour de France, his cancer foundation.
Though the fans would want to see their icon fight a
battle and emerge victorious, like he has always all battles. In his book It’s
not about the bike Lance says, “Giving up was never an option.”
Then why did he give up this fight? Some
may even consider this retract as a sign of guilt, but what the world knows is
the half truth, or probably half lie.
Armstrong has failed the sporting test but has come out
with flying colours in the test of humanity. He is a symbol of hope for
millions of cancer afflicted patients, who look up to him as a fighter.
The sport of cycling has definitely suffered a huge
setback. The word cycling is synonymous to Lance Armstrong. If people chose to
believe the USADA then definitely the synonym has been dropped and probably will
never find a replacement. Lance Armstrong, the human - has won, the cyclist -
failed.
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