Viewpoint: Choose your heroes wisely
In this file photo taken Dec. 4, 2008, Lance Armstrong trains on the Canary Island of Tenerife.
For so many years, Lance Armstrong drove cycling.
He was the reason major media outlets covered it. He was the reason sports fans paid attention to it. He was the reason non-sports fans paid attention to it.
Now he’s the reason people are disgusted by it.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a nearly 200-page report this week detailing Armstrong’s performance-enhancing drug use -- something he vehemently denied throughout his career.
Ironically enough, several of his accusers also used PEDs en route to their cycling success. Cycling is a dirty sport. And there is no hiding it anymore.
Is it in the stars? Free Daily and Monthly Horoscopes
But this is bigger than cycling. This is bigger than sports. Armstrong was an American hero. He embodied every quality Americans valued. Now he’s just a regular dude -- with major-league honesty issues.
Who’s to blame for that?
Is it society’s fault for putting athletes on pedestals and making them our heroes? Or is it Armstrong’s fault for duping the entire world by doping his way to seven Tour de France titles?
It’s a little of both.
Armstrong’s battle with testicular cancer was well documented. He was first diagnosed in 1996 at the age of 25. Doctors told him he had less than a 40% chance of survival.
When he beat the disease America latched on to him -- and that was well before he won his first Tour de France. Each drug-fueled victory seemed a victory for everyone. Had we known the truth, would we still have celebrated?
Each win strengthened his Livestrong brand -- Armstrong’s foundation, which raises money for cancer research.
According to the Livestrong website, the foundation has raised more than $470 million for cancer research and other cancer-related endeavors, and has provided financial resources to more than 550 organizations.
It is undeniable that Armstrong's intentions in this respect were from the heart. He's been instrumental in advancing cancer research and an inspiration to countless cancer survivors.
As admirable and positive as this is, would it have been possible without the platform the PED use helped create? Does it even matter?
Imagine if your hero -- someone that helped you wake up every morning, someone that helped you push through the pain -- was a phony.
“He was my hero,” said cancer survivor Scott Rykken, a high school science teacher in Brooklyn Center, Minn.
“I really did admire him as a role model in essence,” Rykken said. “If he just admitted it, it would have been better.”
And that’s just it. Reports of Armstrong’s drug use surfaced all the way back in 1999. For 13 years, he shot down those reports with everything he had.
The whole thing is disturbing. This isn’t a case of the media trying to bring down a hero. Lance did it to himself.
“You had to finally just accept the reality that he was lying,” Rykken said. “It’s too bad.”
It is too bad.
The whole sports hero thing. It doesn’t seem to work.
Sam Gordon is a Fall 2012 Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about him here.
This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.