I watched a movie about him and it left me deeply disturbed. On one hand I understand the philosophy 'Everybody is doing it, therefore I have to' in professional sports. I also understand that, despite the drugs, you still have to be phenomenally fit in order to win and to have an unbelievable stamina. However his case is more complicated. First, he had to force all the team members who worked for him to do the enhancing performance drugs-- bike riding is a team competition anyway. The second, he had so much publicity: cancer survivor, Armstrong Foundation, etc--- they showed him on stage with several US Presidents... Multiple fundraisers, on TV all the time. So, he had to consistently lie in public on this topic for about seven years or so. What deeply worries me, no way it had not been not known for seven years. It HAD been known, but I guess he was so high in ranks that nobody had guts to touch him, and those who tried were intimidated and silenced. In the end, what you have is an incredible athletic achievement, but in the same time, an unbelievable fake. If you think about it from statistical, medical, or physiological standpoint, nobody can win Tour de France seven times --- it just cannot be done with such consistency, unless you have a technology machine working for you. And he had this machine and used it because there is no other way to do this business: you either win or you are broke---- (well I am not sure if this is completely true, but close to truth in professional bicycle riding). And then this guy Landis comes after him, wins the same way, got caught, and immediately disqualified. The poor guy thought if Armstrong could do it why could not I? I just have to deny it point blanc all the time...Did not quite work for him. The guy ended up broken in all respects: physically, mentally, career-wise, monetarily --- --BTW Landis family originates from a religious sect of some kind (Mennonites?)--- And he had to publicly lie so many times---possibly finding the comfort in the fact that these are just the rules of the game you have to play by?
