We all know the story of Lance Armstrong. New evidence suggests that Lance Armstrong was given “permission” to cheat his way to victory from International cycling officials. It appears that officials have looked the other way in order to keep a substantial amount of activity prevalent in the cycling sport itself due to Mr. Armstrong’s celebrity.
World Cycling governing body (UCI) president Brian Cookson said on Monday he will ask former chief Hein Verbruggen to surrender his honorary presidency, after a detailed report into the cycling sport’s doping culture, revealing that the officials worked together to protect Lance Armstrong.
The 227-page document, commissioned by the International Cycling Union, also suggests that doping remains consistent among today’s elite racers.
Various examples have been revealed showing that UCI leadership covered up Lance’s steps, giving him a blind eye because he was a favored athlete, the Cycling Independent Reform Commission stated. “This was in circumstances where there was strong reason to suspect him of doping.”
Once things were officially discovered and the roof came crashing down on Armstrong, having been stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles he issued the following statement, “I am deeply sorry for many things I have done. It is my hope that revealing the truth will lead to a bright, dope-free future for the sport I love.”
There is a positive element to all of this. Despite the fact that Lance Armstrong cheated his way to legendary status in the history of the cycling sport; he does have the opportunity to make it right. Not by winning back his titles, which is obviously unlikely but by giving back to the sport something it so desperately needs, A VOICE TO STOP DOPING.
Lance Armstrong is not the only professional athlete to use doping. In fact, there is an estimated 90 percent of top-level riders still doping. There needs to be someone to shut this down, in addition to the officials and unions making the rules. If there was a voice to emerge from the damage to the sport, it should be Lance Armstrong’s voice. People will listen to what he has to say. Perhaps he can rebrand himself and show his passion for the sport the only way he can, by making it better by getting dope control in control. His persona, what he has meant to the sport, his ups and downs….HIS STORY….can greatly change the sport for the better and all athletes worldwide that use performance enhancing drugs for that matter. Something to think about.
