Greg–I totally see your point and agree that his story would’ve still been remarkable. All of this will always have to remain a combination of 20/20 hindsight and hypothesis. Part of what makes his story remarkable is how he won them, i.e. the days when he trounced the competition in such fine form. Would that have been possible without EPO? Who knows? I really do agree that his story would’ve been amazing minus the EPO. My question is if it could’ve been remarkable on its own, why introduce an element that diminishes its impact when so many people are counting on you? It sullies the story in some intangible, hard-to-articulate way. And, as you say, perhaps all that is beside the point. I will continue to watch how it unfolds and will now watch you have to say about it for sure, given your unique vantage point!

Thanks for taking the time to comment and challenge!

The Lance Armstrong story did you – and millions of others around the world – well when you needed it most. Anything beyond that, frankly, doesn’t matter.

Sure, you could spend time reflecting on ‘well, was it all fake, is my hope unfounded’, but to what end? The reality is, none of this will take into account the sporting circumstances anyway. None of it will consider that Armstrong – if anything is ever proven (and it won’t be) – was still a remarkable athlete after suffering from cancer. None of it will consider who else he raced against and what products they were using. None of it will consider that EPO – while having an unmistakable advantage when it comes to recovery – doesn’t make you super human.

I suspect that there’s probably truth to the Armstrong allegations, just as I suspect that you couldn’t hand his victories to anyone else in the top 20 for the same reasons. I also suspect that if you could have somehow assured a clean field (you can’t), that Lance Armstrong would have been a contender. I suspect (and I don’t know, because I’m not one) that had that been the case, the Lance Armstrong story would have still been remarkable and it still would have been an inspiration for anyone suffering from cancer.

So if you’re looking at this from a cancer survior’s perspective, what does it matter?

What a GREAT story of hope! An amazing little girl for sure. Thanks for sharing this, @kamkansas!

Take care, @kamkansas

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