I love cycling. I don't do it often enough, and I'm not particularly good at it. I do it for fun, for exercise, not to race or compete.
But I have to say that I am sorry that international body in charge of cycling has taken all of Lance Armstrong's record from him. I understand their view that he was cheating by taking steroids or other chemicals: it appears that it's undetectable still, so we don't know who else took it....
But my feeling is this: he brought such hope to cancer survivors: he was so inspiring to those who need hope: he took a "you're dying" diagnosis, and came back to show incredible resolve: I'd rather we never knew about the drugs. I'd rather we still were all screaming his name, taking inspiration from his feat.
What he did was incredible, cheat or not. Without the wins, we'd merely celebrate him as a mildly inspiring individual who went back to bike races.... and the inspiration would be nice, but mild. With the wins, he had the potential to really inspire. Now that those wins are gone, he's back to human.
Yours, missing when he could be considered stronger than any human I knew,
N.
But I have to say that I am sorry that international body in charge of cycling has taken all of Lance Armstrong's record from him. I understand their view that he was cheating by taking steroids or other chemicals: it appears that it's undetectable still, so we don't know who else took it....
But my feeling is this: he brought such hope to cancer survivors: he was so inspiring to those who need hope: he took a "you're dying" diagnosis, and came back to show incredible resolve: I'd rather we never knew about the drugs. I'd rather we still were all screaming his name, taking inspiration from his feat.
What he did was incredible, cheat or not. Without the wins, we'd merely celebrate him as a mildly inspiring individual who went back to bike races.... and the inspiration would be nice, but mild. With the wins, he had the potential to really inspire. Now that those wins are gone, he's back to human.
Yours, missing when he could be considered stronger than any human I knew,
N.
No comments:
Post a Comment