In defense of Lance Armstrong

The news today that Lance Armstrong will not continue to contest the doping charges filed against him by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency was certainly very disappointing and a bit perplexing. Lance has been the single most tested athlete in history, and has been cleared after every test - and yet the allegations persist.

If it's indeed true that Lance was using some sort of performance-enhancing drugs during his extraordinary run of Tour de France victories, it will definitely tarnish his reputation, and I will be quite disappointed in him - more for his dishonesty than for the doping itself.  

What this won't do is to invalidate completely my admiration for the man and what he has accomplished. After a start (pre-cancer) as an admittedly cocky and over-confident young man, he had not only his career but his very life threatened in the most serious and devastating way. On his initial diagnosis with testicular cancer that had metastasized to the lungs and brain, he was given approximately a 10% chance of surviving, let alone ever cycling competitively again.  

But survive he did, and came back not only a better cyclist, but a more thoughtful and dedicated man. In addition to the seven TDF wins, he founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which has raised, to date, over half a billion dollars for cancer research, and inspired millions of people to fight for their lives against seemingly impossible odds.  

I'm not going to justify his doping by saying that "everybody does it," but the fact of the matter is that in cycling, as in many sports, the preponderance of competitors are engaged in some manner of performance enhancement, and it becomes increasingly difficult to stay competitive without doing so. What I am going to do is to continue to give Lance the benefit of the doubt, until such time as it's proven there's no reason to, and I'm going to abide by my admiration for what the man has achieved.