The Tainted Yellow

Bemoaning the death of the greatest sporting story in history 

Lance Armstrong was the greatest sporting story ever....greater than Mohammad Ali or Jesse Owens. His achievements were at least on par if not better than the likes of Roger Federer, Michael Schumacher and Michael Phelps. Us ordinary mortals create sporting heroes by being enchanted by one of 3 things – an individual fighting seemingly insurmountable odds to compete at the top level or an athlete displaying a rare brand of sporting mastery to dominate either statistically , artistically or both in his individual discipline. Only rarely does an individual come who combines each of these – hence the names of Owens and Ali residing permanently in the hallowed portals of sport. Till yesterday, Lance Armstrong was destined to sit at least as an equal in this table if not as the head.

Then he decided not to contest the reams of charges levelled at him by the US Anti Doping Agency about systematic use and masking of performance enhancing agents, pretty much throughout his entire cycling career.  I do not understand the charges levelled at Lance and till all the alleged evidence against him is made public, the whole affair is likely to stay murky and dubious, casting a seemingly irremovable stain on an already tainted sport. Scanning the media pages over the last 24 hours has been a heartbreaking experience for this avowed Armstrong fan – a guy who’s annual July calendar is writ largely by the Tour de France principally because of the delights provided by the American.

The media has been  come out in a variety of poses – dominating of course , are those condescending smirks of “we knew it all the time” ; and there are those who bemoan the death of the Armstrong legacy and everything he stood for and the hope he provided to millions worldwide.  All media reports however are united over one issue – Armstrong’s white flag and refusal to contest the USADA charges, everyone feels, is a nailed on confession of guilt and a weak if not unexpected gesture to salvage whatever tarnished legacy he might manage for the future.

For those ignorant of the Lance Armstrong story – the Texan is a stage IV testicular cancer survivor – recovering from surgery and chemotherapy, he returned to professional cycling and proceeded to dominate the blue riband event in the sport, the Tour de France, winning the gruelling 3 week race for an unprecedented 7 consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 – a kind of dominance comparable with any athlete in any era in any sport. Masterminded by Johan Bruyneel , the US Postal Services and Discovery, perpetrated  a rare team dominance with lance as the lead act. Over the years, several of its more prominent members, notably Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis, tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and were banned. Gradually the accusations against Armstrong surfaced, his former team-mates accusing him of using and peddling both the agents and ways and means of masking them. Lance categorically denied the charges claiming himself the most tested athlete in the world. The USADA spent all the intervening years gathering evidence against him and finally launched proceedings against him, which after 2 weak attempts to block , Armstrong said he would not contest.

The implications of the Armstrong story are more than deciding 7 new TDF champions – there is now a question of establishing any kind of authenticity in an era of cycling where pretty much over every athlete hangs a doping cloud. This is a kick to the guts of sport in general, of belief in any kind of human achievement and perseverance. It is worse than finding out that Michael Phelps’ 22 Olympic medals were achieved illegally, or that Roger Federer’s 17 grand slam titles were won by systematic match fixing. Armstrong wasn’t merely a sporting icon , he was a champion of humanity. His Livestrong foundation has done more for cancer awareness and patients than anything of a similar vein achieved by any sportsperson. What does the future hold for Livestrong and the myriad of Lance supporters in the light of recent events. What exactly does Lance’s white flag refusal to contest the charges signify ?

Is it as his (and apparently his own alone) initial reaction suggests,  merely the sign of a man tired of fighting – against cancer , the against the tortuous passes of the Alps and the Pyrenees and finally against the prolonged (and apparently alleged) ‘witch-hunt’ against him.

What next for the Lance legacy ?

Or is it merely the best possible escape for a guilty man trying not only to salvage whatever bit of his personal reputation that he can, but also to keep the flag flying for his foundation and the hopes in the lives of the people it has touched? It is conceivable that Armstrong fears the dirt likely to be raked up in the course of the legal proceedings would be so heinous that his name would go from being from one of the most iconic in sports to one of the most vilified. In this manner at least, there would be a not altogether insignificant group of faithful supporters who would stand by him claiming that “after all he was never proved guilty”. The pragmatic would like the truth – there will never be any absolution though, with or without it. The greatest sporting story in history has been tainted. It will take long (if ever) before a similar story surfaces again...all we who romanticise the sports can hope is that our modern day heroes – the Bolts and the Federers , the Phelpses and the Messis can stay unsullied. Sport has never before been in such dire need of these men before.