The Lance Armstrong's flower in the desert
Hey Louis. I'm Lance Armstrong. I got a message from the folks over at LIVESTRONG telling me about your health situation and current news. I wanted to send you a video message and let you know I'm thinking about you and pulling for you. I understand you're seeing Dr. Einhorn so we know you're seeing the best of the best. Anything I can ever do, let me know. One more thing, I understand you're a member of the Navy. Thank you for your service. It's truly appreciated. Hang in there, buddy! - Lance Armstrong
That's how Lance has dedicated part of his time in purgatory. Every week or so he has recorded messages to cancer survivors. "For someone of his magnitude and stature, after all that he's been through, to take thirty seconds out of his day to send me a video and say 'We got your back,' you have no idea how momentum-building that is", says Kevin Scoggins, who got the message just after finishing up several hospital tests, including a bone-marrow biopsy.
From legend to disgrace. One of the most successful competitors and sportspersons ever, the cyclist Lance Armstrong admitted using enhance-performance substances in his career, including his seven victories in a row at the Tour de France after beating cancer - which, by the way, was the toughest battle in his life and his desire to win was decisive for the recovery process and to get back to the World circuit.
During his interview to Oprah Winfrey in January 2013, Lance said that he was convinced he was not doing anything wrong. Using those substances was not allowed though, it was known and eventually agreed by all competitors that winning is made by superhuman efforts, over training and maybe ‘a little bit’ more. Lance had built an impressive legacy until then. His Foundation, which I am proud of being one of the leaders representing the cause in 27 countries, fights to improve lives affected by cancer now and has impacted 2.5 million people and raised $500 million to the mission. He became not only an American icon, but also a global icon. Lance launched a new chapter for the global cancer battle by creating a new paradigm of survivorship rather than victimization. Through the LIVESTRONG Foundation, former Lance Armstrong Foundation, he advocated and put the cancer as a global priority in the agenda. All seemed gone after the US Anti-Doping Agency’s report release in 2012 and his confession in early 2013.
This controversy story has been focused on Lance’s lie. However, I haven’t seen much discussion on the main subject – and the one that sports competition could teach companies, individuals and markets about: ethic. And I’m not referring only to Lance’s ethical fiber. I mean a major systemic and structural problem involving competitors, sponsors, agencies and organizations behind. For many people, it was ‘commercially’ viable keeping this story as it was.
If there are at least three important lessons from this case
@firstly is the admission. If Lance had confessed earlier, probably he would have been suspended for 6 months - as his colleagues and forgiven by the public opinion. Not sure how good it is. The point is that he got stuck in his world of lies and people consider it's supposedly inexcusable feeling betrayed by.
@Secondly, the system is structurally impaired, and keeping it going requires us to understand our ethical frontier line right away. "It was going to be difficult to have professional success as a cyclist without using EPO. This was, in fact, the general consensus of the entire team", said Frankie Andreu, former Lance's teammate. Take your choice.
@Third and lastly, there are flowers in the desert. The LIVESTRONG Foundation and the global cancer community are the ones in Lance’s desert of lie and we are going to persevere and keep moving forward to serve 32.5 million people affected by cancer now.
Lance has considered starting a new cancer foundation. You know what? That's great. Bring it on. All global cancer community cheers for his active back and looks forward to breaking through this battle - again.
The critics say I'm arrogant. A doper. Washed up. A fraud. That I couldn't let it go. They can say whatever they want—I'm not back on my bike for them. - Lance Armstrong
Photo by: Joe Pugliese
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