Author: Damian Mendieta
Feeling betrayed and conflicted, millions of Lance Armstrong admirers watched as the shamed cyclist received a lifetime ban from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and saw the International Cycling Union (ICU) strip all seven of his Tour de France titles. The fallen cycling champion decided not to challenge the USADA’s charges, and then stepped down as chairman of Livestrong. Armstrong’s wise decision has reduced the negative light that shone upon his successful anti-cancer charity. Although the cyclist has been criticized for his egregious doping habits, there can be no doubt that he is correctly putting the Livestrong brand ahead of his own image.
While the cyclist has maneuvered through his latest ordeal with class, there can be no question that his punishment is well-deserved. If Armstrong had gotten away scot-free, then cheating would be brushed aside with little thought by other athletes and, worse, aspiring athletes.
Despite Armstrong’s tattered image, Livestrong has enjoyed a boost in donations with $33.8 million as of October, and still going strong up 2.1 percent from last year. Thanks to Armstrong’s Hollywood-esque underdog tale, the organization received widespread support in its crusade to empower cancer survivors, patients, and their families. The people who Armstrong has championed should not inherit the rotten fruits of the latest doping scandal to surface. Donors who have increased Livestrong’s financial arm deserve applause as Armstrong faces the implosion of his reputation.
However, the question of how sports can be cleaned up still stands. The intense win-at-all costs atmosphere of American sports has pushed athletes, who already arrive at the show stacked with talent, to cheat to get a little more muscle and a little less time hauling their sore limbs.
The leagues that rule over pro sports are also to blame for the emergence of PEDs. For example, it would be ludicrous to say that Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Bud Selig had no idea that his players were transforming into ‘roided out monsters who crushed the ball more often and farther than anyone else before. As the greenbacks piled up from fans eager to watch faster pitches and more homers, Selig was not compelled by any reason to come clean about the doping scandal.
Well it came out anyway, due to Jose Canseco’s guilty conscience that led to a huge scandal and Congressional hearings.
With the emergence of a doping scandal in cycling, it is clear that PEDs can affect any and every sport. In this case, the culprit was not the most likely suspect. It wasn’t a big league slugger, Dwight Howard and his enormous biceps, some NFL leather-neck, or another modern-day gladiator or boxer to spark off the next great doping scandal. It was saint Armstrong.
That being said, cycling’s fiasco must spark thoughts that doping can, and probably does, occur everywhere. For now, the sports world must play the waiting game to see where the next scandal erupts.
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