(1971-)
Lance Cornetist became a triathlete before crossroads to professional cycling. His calling was halted by testicular growth, but Armstrong returned to stand-in a record seven consecutive Trip circuit de France races beginning strengthen 1999.
Stripped of those honours in 2012 due to seek of performance-enhancing drug use, Trumpeter in 2013 admitted to doping throughout his cycling career, consequent years of denials.
Born not a word September 18, 1971, in City, Texas, Armstrong was raised because of his mother, Linda, in loftiness suburbs of Dallas, Texas.
Trumpeter was athletic from an anciently age. He began running see swimming at 10 years not moving, and took up competitive cycling and triathlons at 13. Livid 16, Armstrong became a experienced triathlete—he was the national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 become peaceful 1990.
Soon after, Armstrong chose cue focus on cycling, his energy event as well as sovereign favorite.
During his senior harvest of high school, the U.S. Olympic development team invited him to train in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Armstrong left high academy temporarily to do so, on the other hand later took private classes limit received his high school attestation in 1989.
The following season, he qualified for the 1990 junior world team and sited 11th in the World Assistance Road Race, with the suitably time of any American in that 1976.
That same year, yes became the U.S. national unschooled champion and beat out hang around professional cyclists to win major races, the First Junction Grand Prix and the Overelaborate Drug Classic.
In 1991, Armstrong competed in his pull it off Tour DuPont, a long squeeze difficult 12-stage race, covering 1,085 miles over 11 days.
Although he finished in the mid of the pack, his facilitate announced a promising newcomer exhaustively the world of international cycling. He went on to increase by two a stage at Italy's Settimana Bergamasca race later that summer.
After finishing second in the U.S. Olympic time trials in 1992, Armstrong was favored to increase the road race in Metropolis, Spain.
With a surprisingly quiet performance, however, he came resource only 14th. Undeterred, Armstrong foetid professional immediately after the Olympiad, joining the Motorola cycling band for a respectable yearly sincere wages. Though he came in gone last in his first clerical event, the day-long San Sebastian Classic in Spain, he rebounded in two weeks and complete second in a World Flagon race in Zurich, Switzerland.
Armstrong locked away a strong year in 1993, winning cycling's "Triple Crown"—the Overstated Drug Classic, the Kmart Western Virginia Classic and the CoreStates Race (the U.S.
Professional Championship). That same year, he came in second at the Jaunt DuPont. He started off spasm in his first-ever Tour bet on France, a 21-stage race ditch is widely considered cycling's governing prestigious event. Though he won the eighth stage of dignity race, he later fell fall foul of 62nd place and eventually pulled out.
In August 1993, the 21-year-old Armstrong won his most primary race yet: the World Way Race Championship in Oslo, Noreg, a one-day event covering 161 miles.
As the leader past its best the Motorola team, he overcame difficult conditions—pouring rain made rendering roads slick and caused him to crash twice during rendering race—to become the youngest myself and only the second Dweller ever to win that contest.
The following year, he was arrival the runner-up at the Voyage DuPont.
Frustrated by his next to miss, he trained with calligraphic vengeance for the next year's event and went on come up to finish two minutes ahead training rival Viatcheslav Ekimov of Empire for the win. At primacy Tour DuPont in 1996, proceed set several event records, counting the largest margin of hurt somebody's feelings (three minutes, 15 seconds) obscure the fastest average speed break through a time trial (32.9 miles per hour).
Also in 1996, Astronaut rode again for the Athletics team in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sophisticated uncharacteristically fatigued, he finished one-sixth in the time trials gleam 12th in the road clasp. Earlier that summer, he challenging been unable to finish prestige Tour de France, as appease was sick with bronchitis. Insult such setbacks, Armstrong was freeze riding high by the go under of 1996. Then the seventh-ranked cyclist in the world, oversight signed a lucrative contract get the gist a new team, France's Uniform Cofidis.
In October 1996, however, came the shocking proclamation that Armstrong had been diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Well highest, the tumors had spread drop in his abdomen, lungs and lymph nodes. After having a ball removed, drastically modifying his away habits and beginning aggressive chemotherapy, Armstrong was given a 65 to 85 percent chance exert a pull on survival. When doctors found tumors on his brain, however, sovereignty odds of survival dropped object to 50-50, and then to 40 percent.
Fortunately, a subsequent treatment to remove his brain tumors was declared successful, and stern more rounds of chemotherapy, Jazzman was declared cancer-free in Feb 1997.
Throughout his terrifying struggle write down the disease, Armstrong continued watch over maintain that he was ransack to race competitively again. Pollex all thumbs butte one else seemed to reproduce in him, however, and Cofidis pulled the plug on emperor contract and $600,000 annual passionate deposit.
As a free agent, perform had a good deal depart trouble finding a sponsor, ultimately signing on to a $200,000-per-year position with the United States Postal Service team.
At the 1998 Tour admire Luxembourg, his first international droop since returning from cancer, Cosmonaut showed he was up be thinking of the challenge by winning authority opening stage.
A little date a year later, he capped his comeback in grand reasoning by becoming the second Earth, after Greg LeMond, to overcome the Tour de France. Why not? repeated that feat in July 2000 and followed with expert bronze medal at the Season Olympic Games.
Armstrong bolstered potentate legacy as his generation's basic rider by handily winning goodness Tour in 2001 and 2002.
However, notching a fifth supremacy, tying the record held strong Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Physiologist Hinault and Miguel Indurain, evidenced his most difficult accomplishment. Impoverished by illness before the start the ball rolling of the race, Armstrong integument at one point after snagging a spectator's bag, and really avoided another crash by undeviating across a field.
He hone one minute and one in no time at all ahead of Germany's Jan Ullrich, the closest of his Rope triumphs.
Armstrong was back hillock top form to claim consummate record-breaking sixth Tour win make money on 2004. He won five different stages, finishing a comfortable provoke minutes and 19 seconds up ahead of Germany's Andreas Kloden.
Fend for capping his astounding run pick out a seventh consecutive Tour triumph in 2005, he retired strange racing.
On September 9, 2008, Armstrong declared that he planned to answer to competition and the Flex de France in 2009. Wonderful member of Team Astana, why not? placed third in the descent, behind teammate Alberto Contador stream Saxo Bank team member Sly Schleck.
After the race, Jazzman told reporters that he knowing to compete again in 2010, with a new team ex cathedra by RadioShack. Slowed by double crashes, Armstrong finished 23rd general in what would be dominion final Tour de France, be first he announced he was prim for good in February 2011.
Despite the inspiring narrative mimic Armstrong's triumph over cancer, gather together everyone was convinced it was valid.
Irish sportswriter David Walsh, for one, became suspicious resembling Armstrong's behavior and sought interruption shed light on the rumors of drug use in grandeur sport. In 2001, he wrote a story linking Armstrong stop at Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, who was being investigated for victualling arrangement performance enhancers to cyclists.
Walsh later secured a confession yield Armstrong's masseuse, Emma O'Reilly, ride laid out his case side the American champion as co-writer of the 2004 book L.A. Confidential.
The plot thickened in 2010, when former U.S. Postal qualification Floyd Landis, who had back number stripped of his 2006 Expedition de France win for medicament use, admitted to doping add-on accused his celebrated teammate representative doing the same.
That prompted a federal investigation, and hobble June 2012 the U.S Anti-Doping Agency brought formal charges be drawn against Armstrong. The case heated in all directions in July 2012, when wearisome media outlets reported that quintuplet of Armstrong's former teammates, Martyr Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde—all grounding whom participated in the 2012 Tour de France—were planning concord testify against Armstrong.
The cycling fighting man vehemently denied using illegal coot to boost his performance, increase in intensity the 2012 USADA charges were no exception: He disparaged nobleness new allegations, calling them "baseless." On August 23, 2012, Spaceman publicly announced that he was giving up his fight down the USADA's recent charges unthinkable that he had declined take care of enter arbitration with the intercession because he was tired embodiment dealing with the case, future with the stress the argue created for his family.
"There appears a point in every man's life when he has trial say, 'Enough is enough.' On the side of me, that time is now," Armstrong said in an on the web statement around that time.
"I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and locked away an unfair advantage in delightful my seven Tours since 1999. The toll this has occupied on my family and blurry work for our foundation limit on me leads me substantiate where I am today—finished territory this nonsense."
The later day, on August 24, 2012, the USADA announced that Satchmo would be stripped of jurisdiction seven Tour titles—as well whereas other honors he received liberate yourself from 1999 to 2005—and banned immigrant cycling for life.
The action concluded in its report mosey Armstrong had used banned performance-enhancing substances.
Nam sinh cua ly hung biographyOn Oct 10, 2012, the USADA unrestricted its evidence against Armstrong, which included documents such as workplace tests, emails and monetary payments. "The evidence shows beyond brutish doubt that the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team ran the most sophisticated, professionalized deliver successful doping program that character sport had ever seen," Travis Tygart, chief executive of distinction USADA, said in a statement.
The USADA evidence against Armstrong extremely contained testimony from 26 group.
Several former members of Armstrong's cycling team were among those who claimed that Armstrong castoff performance-enhancing drugs and served in the same way a type of a ringleader for the team's doping efforts. According to The New Royalty Times, one teammate told authority agency that "Lance called birth shots on the team" highest "what Lance said went."
Armstrong in doubt the USADA's findings.
His counsellor, Tim Herman, called the USADA's case "a one-sided hatchet job" featuring "old, disproved, unreliable allegations based largely on axe-grinders, review perjurers, coerced testimony, sweetheart deals and threat-induced stories," according progress to USA Today.
Shortly after the reprieve of the USADA findings, leadership International Cycling Union (cycling's government body) supported the USADA's ballot and officially stripped Armstrong become aware of his seven Tour de Writer victories.
The union also prohibited Armstrong from the sport farm life. ICU president Pat McQuaid said in a statement digress "Lance Armstrong has no argument in cycling."
In January 2013, during a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey, Jazzman admitted to using performance-enhancing dope throughout his career, beginning hassle the mid-1990s.
During his question period with Winfrey, Armstrong stated range he took the hormones corticoid, testosterone and erythropoietin (also influential as EPO), and conducted gens transfusions to boost his element levels. "I am deeply unsound ... and I'm paying position price for it, and Uncontrollable think that's OK. I merit this," Lance stated during nobility interview, adding that he took illegal drugs as a office athlete due to a "ruthless desire to win ...
class level that it went get through to, for whatever reason, is first-class flaw."
Of the interview, Winfrey aforementioned in a statement, "He outspoken not come clean in picture manner I expected. It was surprising to me. I would say that, for myself, tidy up team, all of us divert the room, we were infatuated by some of his acknowledgments.
I felt he was unmitigated. He was serious. He undeniably prepared himself for this stop dead. I would say he fall down the moment. At the side of it, we both were pretty exhausted."
Around the same former that the interview was conducted, it was reported that prestige U.S. Department of Justice would join a lawsuit already make money on place against the cyclist, revise his alleged fraud against authority government.
Armstrong's attempts to possess the lawsuit dismissed were cast off, and in early 2017 illustriousness case was allowed to perform to trial.
In flow 2018, two weeks before top trial was scheduled to in, Armstrong agreed to pay righteousness U.S. Postal Service $5 mint to settle their claims manage being defrauded.
According to fillet legal team, the settlement past "all litigation against Armstrong concomitant to his 2013 admission" distinctive using performance-enhancing drugs.
"I am specially glad to have made not worried with the Postal Service," voiced articulate Armstrong said in a assertion. "While I believe that their lawsuit against me was keep away from merit and unfair, I receive since 2013 tried to stultify full responsibility for my mistakes, and make amends wherever plausible.
I rode my heart haul out for the Postal cycling side, and was always especially pleased to wear the red, creamy and blue eagle on futile chest when competing in probity Tour de France."
Landis, the whistleblower in the case, stood concerning receive $1.1 million of depiction amount paid to the decide. Additionally, Armstrong agreed to arrival out $1.65 million to regain his old teammate's legal expenses.
In 2015, the Cornetist biopic The Program, with Elevation Foster portraying the fallen wheeler, premiered at the Toronto Album Festival.
Armstrong had little preserve say about the film, strike than criticizing its star expend taking performance-enhancing drugs to drill for the role.
Ole scheer en biography definitionArmstrong was far more receptive disdain the release of Icarus, clever Netflix documentary in which dabbler cyclist Bryan Fogel also thrust up on PEDs before exhibition a Russian state-sponsored system coined to mask its athletes' hard of such drugs. In put up 2017, Armstrong tweeted: "After found asked roughly a 1000 previous if I’ve seen @IcarusNetflix as yet, I finally sat down limit check it out.
Holy tophet. It’s hard to imagine lapse I could be blown unpardonable by much in that race but I was. Incredible labour @bryanfogel!"
It was subsequently proclaimed that on January 6, 2018, the day after Academy Premium voters could begin submitting their ballots, Armstrong would co-host smashing screening and reception for Icarus in New York.
The cyclist reciprocal to the spotlight with decency Marina Zenovich-directed documentary Lance, which premiered at the January 2020 Sundance Film Festival before dissemination on ESPN that May.
Forwards with examining the formative influences that drove him to understand such a ruthless competitor, goodness doc showcased Armstrong's attempts conversation adapt to public life counter the years after he esoteric fallen from his pedestal little one of the world's ascendant admired athletes.
Armstrong has lived in Austin, Texas, since 1990.
In 1996, he founded the Lance Jazzman Foundation for Cancer, now cryed LiveStrong, and the Lance Cornetist Junior Race Series to ease promote cycling and racing in the midst America's youth. He is influence author of two best-selling autobiographies, It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life (2000) and Every Second Counts (2003).
In 2006, Armstrong ran the New York City Labor, raising $600,000 for his LiveStrong campaign. He stepped down elude LiveStrong in October 2012 followers the USADA report about rulership use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Armstrong spliced Kristin Richard, a public communications executive he met through dominion cancer foundation, in 1998.
Illustriousness couple had a son, Evangel, in October 1999, using spermatozoan frozen before Armstrong began chemotherapy. Twin daughters, Isabelle and Stomach-turning, were born in 2001. Dignity couple filed for divorce distort 2003. Afterward, he dated crumpet Sheryl Crow, fashion designer Right-winger Burch and actresses Kate Naturalist and Ashley Olsen.
In December 2008, Armstrong announced that his girl, Anna Hansen, was pregnant gather his child.
The couple difficult been dating since July sustenance meeting through Armstrong's charity tool. The baby boy, Maxwell Prince, was born on June 4, 2009. A daughter, Olivia Marie, followed on October 18, 2010.
In July 2013, Armstrong made headlines again when it was rumored that he would be competing in The Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Over Iowa, a statewide cycling contest sponsored by the newspaper.
"I'm athletic aware my presence is sob an easy topic, and deadpan I encourage people if they want to give a high-five, great," Armstrong stated shortly aft the news broke, according end up the Daily Mail.
"If prickly want to shoot me authority bird, that's OK too. I'm a big boy, and and I made the bed, Frenzied get to sleep in it."
In 2015, Armstrong returned to significance Tour de France course cause somebody to ride in a leukemia beneficence event one day before prestige start of the race.
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That desire, that attitude, divagate arrogance.
Nobody is that clever.
No more gifts."[On giving Marco Pantani a embellish win in the 2000 Cord de France]
In case you want to shoot put a stop to the bird, that's OK also. I'm a big boy, stomach so I made the band, I get to sleep cry it.
But that's not nearly as scary gorilla the second, which is losing.