Today Lance Armstrong chose to stop fighting the doping allegations that have been plaguing him since 1999. By his stepping down from the fight, the path has been cleared for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles.
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On the surface of this development, it seems that Armstrong is admitting his guilt to the doping allegations and moving on. But after reading his statements on the situation though, one almost understands that he is tired of spending money on what he calls an “unconstitutional witch hunt.”
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Fans, as you can probably guess, have elicited opinions that have ranged the gamut from “Guilty” to “That’s BS.“ One misguided “fan” made the brilliant statement that steroids cause testicular cancer, forgetting that Lance had his cancer before his 7 Tour de France medals.
But as another fan noted, he probably got tired of dropping millions on the fight that will never go away.
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Lance’s LiveStrong Blog had a statement from multiple persons.
Lance Armstrong made a statement without inclination towards admission of guilt or innocence:
“Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities. This October, my Foundation will celebrate 15 years of service to cancer survivors and the milestone of raising nearly $500 million. We have a lot of work to do and I’m looking forward to an end to this pointless distraction. I have a responsibility to all those who have stepped forward to devote their time and energy to the cancer cause. I will not stop fighting for that mission.”
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After having faced cancer in my own family twice in as many years, I can’t help but hope this is just an innocent man tired from the fight. If so, then he knows what he did and he beat the competition into the ground 7 times in the Tour de France.
Many have said that U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has no evidence but continues to pursue him. Regardless if he backed out because of something he saw on the horizon, then I’m bummed.
But I believe in the mission of the LiveStrong organization, regardless of whose behind it.
The foundation has served 2.5 million cancer survivors, raised $500 million in the fight against the evil of cancer and Armstrong himself has contributed almost $7M to the foundation’s fight.
It’s a great fight I can’t ignore, regardless of the bike thing.
We can either mull this over until it drives us crazy, move forward or…?
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About Bruce Simmons
I've been writing newsletters since 1999. Of late, I've been focusing on the entertainment consumer angle on mostly the sci-fi, fantasy and action genres of TV, movies and books.
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