Hall of Shame: It really was not about the bike

Aug 26, 2012

“Ben Johnson would seem a like a small-time cheat compared to Lance Armstrong.” Jigneshbhai tells Swami and I to not lose our heads, and stay composed in all circumstances, but he seemed truly angry today. Sarcasm coming from him generally meant that he was not at all impressed with what was happening, to say the least.

But the reason was valid enough, Swami and I thought.

If the reasons due to which Armstrong has been stripped of his 7 titles and perhaps Olympic Medal too are true (more likely than not), then Ben Johnson could be forgiven for letting down athletic fans over 20 years back for a few acts of misjudgement.

“Lance Armstrong seems like a ringleader of fraud and cheaters in sport” Swami, on the other hand, who lost his cool quite often, was also using the strongest of words today.

Lance Armstrong’s achievements in cycling were comparable only to what Federer has achieved in tennis or Tendulkar has achieved in cricket. Not only that, but he was also an emotional icon beyond sport for most of his fans, purely because his superhuman achievements came after he had conquered cancer.

Most of his fans would probably be in denial unable to accept that, after all, he was, at best, a superficially pumped performer, and at worst, a thriving store and supplier of performance enhancing drugs to world-class cyclists.

There is something god-like that we attribute to sporting heroes who not only achieve supreme excellence in their field but do so in the face of personal tragedy.

That becomes reason enough to provide them a status that is beyond mere mortals or even normally outstanding sports persons.

For those not familiar with cycling, Lance Armstrong had that kind of standing. The morally high pedestal that Armstrong was put on is likely to ensure that he will fall that much harder.

Now not only his cycling feats in the face of extreme adversity will be questioned.

“I heard a true-blue fan so shattered yesterday that he was questioning whether Armstrong really had cancer” Swami told us, indicating the extreme loss of credibility.

That would be stretching things too far, but that is what happens when real life heroes of this stature turn out to be just another greedy cheat trying to make it big in the big business of sports, and who was smart enough not to be caught so far.

“In some way, Armstrong’s personal fight against cancer cannot be taken away from him.” Jigneshbhai remarked in his normal balanced self, perhaps correctly.

“His cancer foundation has done a lot of good for cancer patients purely due to the money it collected.” He further corroborated. That’s true, I thought.

But Swami was in an unforgiving mood.

“But all of it was based on the premise that Lance Armstrong was the God of Cycling who not only can win 7 titles but can do so after having beaten cancer. And that represented hope to a cancer patient.” Swami explained, quite correctly.

Jigneshbhai, maybe in the surge of emotions, agreed with Swami today.

“I would suspect that not only cycling fans but also some of those patients will feel moral outrage of some kind.”

The Hall of Fame that Lance Armstrong enjoyed is likely to become a Hall of Shame in equal and opposite measure, deservedly so, I thought. After all, it really was not just about the bike.