Meet Lies Armstrong, 7-Time ex-Tour De France Champion

It must be hard for anyone to finally accept that the kingdom that he once thought he ruled was a farce, and that he was not really a king in the first place.  Except that Lance Armstrong is not just anyone – he is Lance Armstrong: the cancer survivor, cycling icon, philanthropist and founder of Livestrong Foundation that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer awareness.

Everything that he did though was built on a foundation of lies.  He was no super human; he was simply a man who cheated with performance enhancing drugs (PED) to look like one. 

They say repeat a lie often and that lie becomes the truth.  Lance Armstrong used PEDs in his first Tour de France win in 1999.  He must not have been convinced by then that he had to do it six more times, from 2000 to 2005 for an unprecedented 7 consecutive wins of the most prestigious and most grueling cycling race in the world where riders have to cover, inside 21 days, some 3,200 kilometers (Manila to Baguio is roughly 200 kms) of road across plains, valleys, hills and torturous climbs and perilous ascents over the mountains of Alps and the Pyrenees.

By the time Lance Armstrong hoisted his 7^th and last Tour de France trophy in 2005, he had become a legend.

Unfortunately, he believed in his own legend, in his kingdom, and in his invincibility.  The lie has now become his truth.  And he defended it with such ferocity that when one by one, people who have once worked with him, rode with him, and even loved him began telling the truth – that he was a cheat – he raised all legal, real or imagined (mostly imagined)issues to bully them into silence.  Some authorities who may have unearthed irregularities suddenly became silent after suspicious donations from Armstrong’s camp came in.  He called everyone a liar except himself.

But no lie that big can be forever denied.  Armstrong would if he could.  But when all investigations have led to his dirty doorstep, there was no choice but to admit he fucked up.  When all of his Tour De France wins were rescinded, he knew he had nothing left but his pride, which was still considerably high.

Again, trust Armstrong  to be ahhmmm, strong.  In his interview with Oprah, Armstrong admitted using dope but made it sound that he was okay with it and bewildered that the world was not.  He even made cheating sound so noble by claiming that he only did it to level the playing field – implying that everyone else was into it.

He did repeatedly say that he was sorry.  But his steely blue eyes and cold demeanor tell me he is once again lying.  Armstrong may be a great liar just like Gloria, but just like Gloria, he is a poor actor when it comes to telling the truth.

So what happens now?  Tour de France has become a tour de farce, and world class cyclists are now, fairly or unfairly, under the mantle of suspicion as being world class dopists.  I suspect that Lance Armstrong will bounce back, just like he did against cancer.  But whether he is ever going to be humbled?  I doubt.  His kingdom may have crumbled but the man who created the lies has not.