LANCE’S ADMISSION – WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

I didn’t watch much of Oprah’s interview with Lance Armstrong this week.  He finally admitted what all of us already knew.  So what?

What does it mean when the man who won the toughest sporting event in the world seven times in a row admits he couldn’t have done it without doping?

Why did he admit it?  Why now?  Is he remorseful?  Or is he trying to limit the damage from the many pending lawsuits filed against him?  Does he want to kindle interest in a book and a movie about his life as a way of getting out of the financial hole he’s dug for himself?

I think the answers can be found in the questions.  You just have to look at the way celebrities conduct themselves these days to understand where this is going.

I started cycling about thirty years ago, by myself, and to keep in shape for cross-country skiing.  Over the years, it’s become my favourite form of exercise and a wonderful pastime.  In a good year I pedal 5,000 kilometres, and I plan to stay in the saddle for as long as I can stay up on two wheels.

Since 2004, I’ve spent many pleasant hours cycling along Island roads with my buddies, the Over the Hill Gang.  We’ve gone from North Cape to East Point together, around the Cabot Trail, and on century (100-mile) rides all over the Maritimes, in Maine, and in Québec. 

In 2006, Russ Melanson, Gerry Ridgeway, Richard Birt, Ira Birt and I travelled to France to climb Mont Ventoux, a 1,600-metre high monster that’s been included in the Tour fourteen times.  It features an average gradient of almost 8% over 22 kilometres and is a brutal test; not for the faint of heart (or lung!). 

We took a couple of breaks on the way up, one in front of the Tom Simpson memorial, just short of the summit.  Simpson died of a heart attack on Ventoux in the 1967 Tour de France.  The autopsy showed he had alcohol and amphetamine in his system.

Elva and I visited France in the summer of 2005.  Quite by accident, we happened to be staying in a small town in the Pyrénées called Saint-Lary the very day the Tour de France cyclists rode up the Pla d’Adet, a climb that reminds me of North Mountain on the Cabot Trail.  We saw Lance ride by right in front of us, wearing the leader's yellow jersey

That year’s tour, the last of Armstrong’s seven wins, took place over a twenty-three day period, with two rest days.  The riders covered almost 3,600 kilometers in that time, an average of 171 kilometres per day, at an average speed of over 41 kilometers per hour.  These guys are machines, whether doped up or not!  We’ve since learned that all three men who stood on the podium in 2005, Armstrong, Ivan Basso and Jan Ulrich, were doping.

The organization that runs cycling, the Union cycliste internationale has declared that no one won the seven Tours from 1999 to 2005.  Of the 180 riders who raced each of those years, so many were doping that it would be impossible to find even three who were clean!

The only one who seemed to be above the rest was Lance; until now.  What happened?  The simple answer is: like all the rest he got caught!  That he managed to escape for so long is simply a reflection of his vast resources and the network that protected him.

Why did he do it?  Lance’s team, the US Postal Service, decided they would do whatever it took to win the Tour.  And they did, seven times.  Armstrong was the leader of the eight-rider team and every other rider and team support member catered to him; including the doctor.  It’s suspected that all of his teammates who rode in the Tour were doping.  It was expected of them.

So, if everybody was doping, why did Lance win seven times in a row?  We don’t really know the answer to this question.  It may be that Lance, doped or not, was the best of the lot.  Or, as many now suspect, he may have been on something better than the others, provided to him by the best team doctor in the business.

I’ll never forget where I was when Ben Johnson beat the snot out of Carl Lewis in Seoul, South Korea, in the 1988 Summer Olympics.  He shattered the world record for the 100 metres in 9.79 seconds!  It was one of my proudest moments as a Canadian.  And I’ll never forget where I was when I learned he was on the steroid Winstrol.  No wonder he ran like a racehorse!

Poor Ben was disgraced; but only because he got caught.  His doctor wasn’t as good at hiding the doping as other runners’ were.  It is a fact that only one of the top five runners in that race never tested positive for a banned substance.  Maybe, just maybe, they were all doping in that race.  Maybe, in a distorted way, our Ben won fair and square.

Contrast these so-called athletes with, in my opinion, the greatest athlete Canada ever produced, Terry Fox.  He ran from St. John’s to west of Thunder Bay on one leg, covering a distance averaging almost a marathon a day, in all kinds of weather, and in great pain.  He ran 5,373 kilometres in 143 days and stopped only when he could go no further. 

Contrast the Terry Fox Foundation with Livestrong.  Which are you prouder of?  The answer for me is quite clear.

Unfortunately, we'll never know whether Lance Armstrong was the best professional cyclist of his era.  Not even he knows the answer to that question.  From what I know of the man, that must be the toughest question he faces.

Is he sorry because he cheated, or is he sorry because he got caught?  Time and Lance’s actions will provide us with a better answer.  I’m willing to give the man a chance at redemption.  Everybody deserves that.