Lance Armstrong, born on September 18, 1971 is
a professional road-racing cyclist. He started his
career by winning in an adult competition at the age
of twelve. He was initially a tri-athlete and was
ranked #1 in 1987-88 Tri-Fred. He attained the
status of professional tri-athlete and in 1989 and
1990; he became the sprint course triathlon
champion. He finished the race at fourteenth
position in the 1992 Summer Olympics. He became the
youngest rider to get the World Road Race
championship.
He won the most prestigious race, Tour de France,
seven times consecutively, from 1999-2005. By this,
he broke the previous record set by Miguel Indurian,
who won the race five times consecutively. ABC
titled him as the Wide World Sports Athlete of the
Year in 1999. Sports Illustrated magazine honored
him by naming him as the Sportsman of the year in
2002. For four consecutively years, from 2002-2005
he was named Associated Press Male Athlete of the
Year. BBC, in 2003, gave him the Sports Personality
of the Year Overseas Personality Award.
He underwent brain and testicular surgery for
getting treatment for testicular cancer, in 1996.
The nonseminomatous testicular cancer was detected
at the third stage and the cancer had spread to his
brain, lungs and abdomen. His chances of living were
only three percent and he opted for a dangerous
chemotherapy so as to resume his career. His
tremendous recovery and his success inspired him to
lay the foundation of his charity, Lance Armstrong
Foundation, in 1997. He went back to cycling after
three years to win for the first time in Tour de
France title by beating Alex Zulle by seven minutes
and thirty-seven seconds. He was yet to win over
Marco Pantani and Jan Ullrich who were big
personalities in cycling and didn't attend due to
some health issues.
Armstrong faced both of them in 2000, and Armstrong
defeated both of them by six minutes and two
seconds. He continued to do so in the next four
consecutive years. Some people doubt his
achievements and say that Armstrong took
performance-enhancing drugs to win in some cases.
But none of them could be verified with good
evidence.
He supported his victories by stating that he had
trained for months together in Spain. He aimed only
for the Tour de France and didn't participate in any
other competition, which gave him the chance to
train for one hundred and eighty days at a stretch.
During that period former cyclist Chris Carmichael,
who was also his coach, trained him.
Armstrong was able to retain higher cadence in a
lower gear when compared to past champions who
utilized a high gear and brute strength. High
cadence leads to less leg muscles fatigue when
compared to lower cadence, which leads to severe leg
muscle contractions. He also had a high aerobic
threshold. His high pedaling cadence was attributed
to his low lactate level, which was his most unusual
quality.
Although his team wasn't that strong initially in
the Tour de France, his later victories brought up
the team level. Armstrong is part of the US Postal
Service cycling team. But his team member weren't a
match to his caliber and often he was isolated. He
strengthened the team by making sponsors and
equipment suppliers to work in harmony. Instead of
getting his bicycle parts being designed by
different companies who hardly interact with each
other, he made the sponsors and suppliers to work
closely so as get complete advantage of all the
resources. Many in the cycling circuit later adapted
this approach.
Born as Lance Edward Gunderson, appeared in the
movies Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, in 2004,
and You, Me and Dupree, in 2006. Armstrong took his
retirement at the closing of the 2005 Tour de France
racing event, on July 24, 2005. After retirement he
concentrated on his charity foundation and has taken
part in many marathons.
