Goal Achievement – Lance Armstrong Is Still A Legend!

"Gordon Bryan" "goal achievement" "self improvement"Lance Armstrong still a legend? Well, that’s what a former team mate said when the scandal first broke, so as Armstrong finally admits to doping in a TV interview, let’s look further at the Armstrong legend…

Alex Dowsett used to ride with Armstrong, and when the scandal broke, he said that Armstrong was still a legend because he came back from cancer and won the Tour de France 7 times. He went on to say that the drugs issue ‘didn’t really matter.’

Hmm.

Dowsett has since clarified those remarks, saying he was talking about the legendary charity work that Armstrong had done, that when he said the drugs didn’t matter, he was talking about how anything someone like Dowsett said would not matter, rather than the drug taking itself.

Hmm again!

I suspect that Dowsett put his foot straight in his mouth, and then shoved it in further, but let’s look at the legacy Armstrong now leaves…

It’s a legacy of tarnish, and mistrust, and shattered dreams of youngsters. I saw someone on facebook talk of all the hours of driving miles and miles to cheer for 30 seconds when Armstrong flashed by, that the hours were worth it for the inspiration.

That kind of ruined memory is what he’s left.

His apology has been met with much cynicism, coming as it does after years of indignant denials, and only coming when there seemed no other way. He also said that drug use felt no different to putting air in the tyres or water in his bottle – it was just part of the job.

That kind of attitude doesn’t really help much, does it?

I was reminded of Marion Jones. The multi Olympic winning sprinter also shouted loudly for years that she had never failed a drug test, and that the accusations against her were outrageous.

It was only when she was found to lie in court and went to jail that she admitted it.

During the years of Armstrong’s denial, I was torn between the possibility of him telling the truth, that Marion Jones was tainting things, or the possibility that Armstrong was doing the *same* as Jones.

We know now which it was, and Armstrong will now make it even harder to believe anyone in the future who makes loud denials.

Very depressing, and his integrity obviously got lost a long way back in the past, and that’s the choice made by sports people all over, but how about in any walk of life?
You can choose to ignore your ethics and integrity, to maybe make life easier, or to progress faster.

Or, you can choose to keep your integrity, to be proud of your ethics, operating within those limits even if it creates problems. At least looking in the mirror won’t be one of your problems.

No, Armstrong isn’t a legend. He’s a cheat, a fraud, who comes across as being sorry that he got caught rather than being sorry for what he did. It may seem easy to preach, but isn’t it so much better to push forward knowing you are acting with honesty, to yourself as well as to others?

Do let me know, I love your feedback!
‘Til Next Time,
Gordon
P.S. You can grab my motivational book ‘Transform Your Life in 21 Days!’ at the rock bottom kindle price!
P.S. Here’s a far better sportsman to take inspiration from: ‘Goal Achievement – Fly LikeThe Eagle!

Do leave a comment!

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18 Comments

  • Time and action will tell the whole story. Coming from an addiction and recovery background I know there is redemtion regardless of our past actions. I’ll throw this out there, drugs or no drugs, winning the Tour 7 times is still pretty amazing.

    • Hi Mark,
      The action so far is not encouraging, and I reckon redemption comes despite past actions and not regardless of them. Winning the Tour 7 times is amazing yes, but winning the Tour 7 times on drugs doesn’t sound amazing at all to me.
      Cheers as ever,
      Gordon

  • It’s the lies. People believed in him and now…. that belief has been shattered. I’m asking why did he do the interview? What’s it it for him? He’s not sorry that he misled thousands of people- he doesn’t care. He came across that he only cares about himself. So what did he gain by doing the interview- that is the big question.

    • Hi Denys,
      I think he’s trying to manage a way back into sport – to be honest I was amazed to see him say he thinks lifetime ban is too harsh! That says a lot to me. I think his main damage was that he reinforced the Marion Jones effect. She also denied it for years with indignation, meaning other people issuing denials had clouds of suspicion over them. For Armstrong to do the same just makes it worse still for other clean athletes, and you’re right I think, he cares little or nothing about that.
      Cheers, Gordon

    • Yes, integrity is great for both business *and* personal lives – a good word to add to your list of client attraction tips!
      Cheers,
      Gordon

  • I agree with you, Gordon. For those athletes that have lied and been caught, they now have to live with not only what they have done to their own lives, but to those that come behind them. It will be a life-time before we can trust that someone hasn’t cheated their way to something better. Thank you for sharing about Lance Armstrong. It just seemed incredible all the victories he accomplished, but now we know why.

    • it just spoils sport for the untold numbers that get huge enjoyment from watching, myself included. Will there be another Lance?
      Yes, because there was another Marion Jones, there was another ben Johnson.
      It’s a part of sport that won’t be going away anytime soon, but I’m blown if I’m just going to join those saying all is forgiven at the drop of a hat!
      Cheers,
      Gordon

  • I have to say, I’m OVER watching all the Armstrong hype on TV. I would not consider him a legend and don’t think he’s doing himself any favors by appearing so much on TV. He could use a little humbling I feel, but I’m trying not to be judgmental:)

    • Hi Kerry,
      Blimey, I feel the same – it’s all over the news here, and I’m not impressed by the ‘managed’ feel of it all. He says he wants to get back into sport, maybe I’ll go along and take some rotten tomatos to throw! I think we are allowed to be judgemental, and my judgement is good riddance to him!
      Cheers,
      Gordon

  • Why not have two kinds of sport events? Tose with drugs and those without? No, kidding it wouldn’t work. Every one would like to pretend they carried ethics and integrity and go for the “non-drug” version any ways. I mean when you lack those important characteristics you do.

    Some god old therapy might do the trick of such low self esteem…

    • I’ve also heard that argument about doing away with drug checks, just let everyone do what they want. Of course the problem with that is that associated deaths will be official rather than unofficial as they are now. Then, there willl be a tde of outcry calling for, yep, drug testing and restriction!
      You are right about therapy – cheating will always be there, and the decision to not cheat has to come from within,
      Cheers,
      Gordon

  • I used to really admire Lance Armstrong, read his books and everything. It feels like a personal disappointment, in a small way. The illusion is shattered and I think a lot of us feel let down and deceived. There is only one thing. I can’t say much about this but it really helped me to watch him admit what he had done and say he knew it had harmed people. I know, I really do know that he seems to be self-serving and remorseless, but I found myself taking some comfort in what he *did* say as I have a huge personal disappointment, much closer to home, that will never be admitted like this because the person is no longer able to. I suppose you could say I was borrowing his admission to help me with my own forgiveness. I didn’t mean to, it just happened. Happy to elucidate further but not in public. Apart from my little story, Gordon, I agree with everything you said. H

    • I’m always keen to see the positives as you know, so if you can gain something positive, then that’s great!
      Thanks as ever for stopping by,
      Gordon

  • One thing to remeber here, Gordon, is that the drugs and blood doping didn’t start with Lance. There is a very interesting book by Tyler Hamilton, who took EPO with Lance, about how the whole peleton was drugged up and how it simply wasn’t possible to stay in the group without “help”. You can see that if you look at the statistics, the average speed has gone way down since stricter controls have come in.

    So Lance did it because everybody did it. But because he was Lance, he did it better just as he trained better and prepared the Tour better. This was not a rogue outlier like Marion Jones, this was mainstream culture for the sport. I know tat tests for EPO didn’t exist for a while but the UCI seels to have been totally inept -or worse- in its control of the sport.

    What I find totally reprehensible in a person I hero-worshipped is the way he was prepared to destroy the reputation of people who told the truth about him. I am thinking particularly about the female soigneur who he called a “whore” but there are several other cases.

    • You’re right Pearson, he wasn’t the only one, nor was he the first. Also, like most liars, particularly those with high profiles, once he started down that road he had to keep it up, going deeper and deeper. Trying to discredit and humiliate his accusers was all part of it.

      A very sorry story indeed…

  • An anecdote from Tyler’s book. He, Lance and several others used to live just over the border from me in Gerona. The dope tester lived in Barcelona. He used to phone them up the night before he was coming to make sure they would be there for their surprise controls

    • I know now in athletics the athletes have to declare where they will be for a one hour window on every day. That does still allow for some drug use, and athletes have been banned for not being where they said they’d beeven if they haven’t failed a test.
      I do accept what is said a lot, that it’s obvious that if people are trying all they can to get away with it, the authorities willl always be chasing the curve.
      Is that cycling anecdote recent or way back?