Criticisms on doping in sport shouldn’t stop at its most public figures, but extend to the system that allow for it.
If you dope in a professional sport and lie about it, that says something about you. You were looking for a competitive edge and you were dishonest. If everyone dopes in a professional sport and lies about it, that says something about the sport. Lance Armstrong, past darling of the current cycling scene, three-time Arthur guest star and now pariah on two-wheels is “bad” but not as bad as you think he is.
The short recap on Armstrong is that he was great at cycling, everyone loved him, he got caught cheating, and people stopped loving him, even hating him. The longer recap is that Lance Armstrong won a ton of races since his debut as a professional cyclist in 1992. From 1999-2005, Lance won seven consecutive Tour de France titles, and countless other honours such as the four time winner of the ESPY Best Male Athlete, 2002 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year and the Jesse Owens International Trophy for the World’s Most Outstanding Athlete in 2000. His source of greatest renown was his courageous battle with testicular cancer, which at the time, was very likely to be fatal. Armstrong eventually recovered approximately two years after his 1996 diagnosis, and founded what is now called the Livestrong Foundation in 1997, which has raised millions for cancer research. He continued to win, win, win, and win.
With his charitable work and dominance in cycling, Armstrong fit the archetype of the athlete media darling: the person who destroys the competition when he’s on the track, and helps those in need of help off it. The turning point came when cyclist Floyd Landis admitted to doping and made allegations that Lance Armstrong and other cyclists were also doping. The allegations in 2010 set off a two year inquiry by the United States Justice Department. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) later accused Armstrong of doping in 2012 based on some of his old blood samples and testimony of his teammates. Armstrong was then stripped of his titles and received a lifetime ban from cycling. Eventually Armstrong gave a televised confession to Oprah, but by then he already lost millions in sponsorship deals, and the Golden Boy of Cycling’s reputation swirled into ruin.
This article is not an argument that Lance Armstrong is good, it’s meant to argue that society gave Armstrong the brunt of the fallout from cycling’s doping scandal, when really the whole sport was guilty. In USADA’s investigation, eleven riders came forward admitting to doping, and team officials were aware when riders had to take “random” drug tests. In 1997’s Tour de France, which Armstrong did not participate in, eight out of the top ten finishers have either failed doping tests, been sanctioned for doping in their career, or admitted to doping in their career without failing a test. In 1998, it was six of the top ten finishers. In 2005’s Tour de France, which Armstrong won, it again was again eight of the top ten finishers who had a checkered history of doping. In 2015’s tour de France, the numbers went down, but still twenty per cent of the top ten had some history with doping. Fast forward to just this summer, where French prosecutors are currently investigating the Bahrain Victorious team for doping. Rewind to the 1966, 1980 and 1983 Tour de France, where the winners each had a history of failing drug tests. Lance Armstrong is a liar, and he has that in common with many of his fellow champions and elite cyclists.
The importance of not getting caught up in Armstrong’s corrupt celebrity, is that every time we put the majority of our security on the athlete, the organizations and executives who orchestrated the scandal, or created the conditions that allowed the scandal to thrive, get away scot-free. Armstrong can lose all his sponsorships, which he deserves, but if you don’t tackle the fact the sport is structured in a way that encourages and lets people get away with doping, then the problem of doping is never going to go away. The USADA’s report regarding it’s doping investigation said that Armstrong was the “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.” That seems to be correct, for this specific doping scandal, but again, Armstrong is just one bolded bullet point in the history of cycling and doping.
Justice in real life doesn’t work the way it does in the Avengers. There’s no defeating Thanos and having a happy ever after, in the real world, that only gets you temporary relief. If people want to end doping corruption in sports, by all means, punish Lance Armstrong. He didn’t just lie, but he was also known for vehemently attacking the credibility of anyone who dared accuse him of doping over the years. But if you want the problem to actually stop, make sure to tackle the system that Armstrong participated in. If you don’t do that, roll the rock up the hill again and brace yourself for the next inevitable performance-enhancing drug scandal.