Lance Armstrong by Francisco Orozco

AN AMERICAN FIGURE: LANCE EDWARD ARMSTRONG.

This man was born as Lance Edward Gunderson in 09/18/71 in Plano, Texas; he was abandoned by his father when he was two years old, he lived with his mother Linda Kelly (married four times so far) and he was adopted by Terry Armstrong, who gave him his last name and whom has been described as deceitful man by Lance.

Lance likes to practice swimming, track and field and cycling (his mother gave him a bicycle when he was 7 years old). When Lance was 13 years old, he won the kids Triathlon and became professional at 16 years old; Academically, Lance studied only High School in a private academy of Bending Oaks in Dallas, Texas. Soon, Armstrong felt more strength in cycling and he decided to concentrate on this kind of competitions with the help of his coach Chris Carmichael (who worked with him during his career). In 1991he won the US Amateur Cycling Championship at 20 years old and he became professional the following year. So far, it seems to be nothing unusual on the life of this great athlete.

In 1996 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer which had already been spread to his brain and lungs, doctors told him that he had a 50/50 chances of surviving (a white lie in order to avoid his spirit were down). Armstrong underwent two surgeries that extirpate one of his testicles, and tumors in lungs and brain. Then he received a high-dose of chemotherapy, counting with the economically support of sponsors like Nike, Giro, Oakley and Milton-Bradley. Finally, he recovered and started cycling again, simultaneously he established the Lance Armstrong Foundation in January 1997, which provides education and advocacy for cancer patients and funds cancer research. In the conference of press to announce the foundation, he met Miss Kristin Richard an executive of a company sponsor.

In 1998 he participated in the Parish-Nice Tour enrolled in the US Postal Team, and he got bad performance, so he thought to retire from the sports competitions. However his Sport Director, Belgian Johan Bruyneel and Italian coach, Michele Ferrari after strength reflections with him, they obtained that he decided to continue in cycling competitions. In the summer, he won the Tour of Luxemburg and reached the forth position in the Tour of Spain.

In June of 1999 he was present at start of the Tour de France as an underdog participant. In an incredible way he defeat Alex Zulle, the great favorite, he took advantage of Alex’s fall down during one stage of the tour. After this, he won 7 times in a row (until 2005); every Tour the France, leading the powerful US Postal Team and defeating competitors like Marco Pantani, Jan Ullrich, Mario Cipollini, and others.

Altogether with his greatest victories, he continued developing his foundation and he launched the famous Livestrong Wristband (yellow soft-rubber) sell more than 55 million in 2004 and they have gotten many funds for charities activities.

Armstrong announced his retirement after the Tour the France in 2005 when he was persecuted by the French press (Le Monde and Le’Équipe newspapers), and the continuous laboratory test trying to find forbidden hormonal substances or steroids in his body; that describes himself as “The most tested athlete in the world” but despite of that persecution nothing has been proved and he rejects the accusations saying “I will simply restate what I have said many times: I had never taken performance enhancing drugs”.

This man, who height 5 ft 9 1/2 in. and weight of 170 pounds, was married with Kristin Richard in 05/08/98 they had three children (one boy and twin girls) and they got divorced in 2003; he ran two times the New York Marathon in 2006 and 2007 with a huge press covertures, obtaining funds for his foundation, he was coached by famous runners that helped him to achieve his goal and he completed the course in less than three hours. He had recently run the Boston Marathon in 04/21/08.

Armstrong began dating singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow from 2004 to 2006. After that, he started a relationship with the actress Ashley Olsen who had performed in TV shows and movies.

What will Armstrong do in the future that could surprise us again? It is difficult to riddle it but, he could become the next Texas Governor between other projects or he could continue leading or founding Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization which inspires millions of non-athlete to volunteers and support the community, along with Andre Agassi, Mia Hamm, Andrea Jagger, Mario Lemiux, Alonzo Mourning and Carl Ripken Jr. Finally, I present some phrases that describe Lance Armstrong, on his own words:

“Pain is temporary, it may last a minute, or an hour, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however it lasts forever”.

“Anything is possible. You can be told that you have a 90 percent chance or only 1 percent chance, but you have to believe, and you have to fight”.

“Without cancer, I never would have won a single Tour the France. Cancer taught me a plan for more purposeful living, how to train to win. It taught me that pain has a reason, and sometimes the experience of losing thing-whether health or and old sense of self-has its own value in the scheme of the life. Pain and loss are great enhancers”.