How would Lance Armstrong handle defeat? He was victorious in his fight against a violent strain of testicular cancer when the odds were against him. He was victorious seven consecutive times at the Tour de France against countless competitors. He was also victorious in creating LiveStrong and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. So why now at the age of 37, after already having announced his retirement from professional cycling, is Armstrong coming back into the game? The answer is easy, because he was defeated. Armstrong finished 2nd in the Leadville 100 “Race Across the Sky” back in August. In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, (to whom he announced his comeback), Armstrong comments about his finishing second. “This kind of obscure race totally kick-started my engine,” he told writer Douglas Brinkley, “I’m going to try and win an eighth Tour de France.” Later on in that article Armstrong also admitted his disdain for failure. “I fear failure,” he said, “I have a huge phobia around failure. And that’s probably a good thing.”
It seems with Armstrong’s attitude that the question of how he would handle defeat seems trivial; he will not be defeated. While many wonder if he has enough time to train for the 2009 race, (he has already begun training), the real issue appears to be in the fact that Armstrong is not the young cyclist he once was. Yet the 2008 Beijing Olympics helps conquer that worry as a number of athletes over the age of 35 medaled, some earning the gold medal. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the next year with Armstrong, but I for one believe that if he could defeat cancer and then go on to win the Tour de France seven times-in-a-row, I’m sure one more is very possible.
For more information on the Lance Armstrong Vanity Fair article, check out vanityfair.com or click this link- Lance Armstrong Rides Again
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2 comments:
Good topic and linkage at the bottom. You use terms like “we’ll have to wait and see” but aren’t you really just referring to yourself? It’s taboo to use I, even if you’re a columnist, but if you’re a blogger, share your opinion with me. Give me a reason to read what you have to say.
I thought you did good on this blog. The fact that you included quotes and also attribution at the bottom of the page made it very readable.
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