ANCIENT&
not so ancient
WISDOM
offering a weekly positive perspective
July
24, 2003
Our imagination is the only limit to
what we can hope to have in the future.
- Lance Armstrong (1971 - )
Lance
Armstrong is on the verge of winning his fifth straight Tour de France.
Lance
Armstrong was born September 18, 1971 in Plano, Texas. After his parents
divorced, he got
his first bicycle and started riding everyday. Sometimes his mom had to pick
him up in Oklahoma.
As
a senior in high school, he moved to Colorado to train with the US Olympic development team for
cycling. He placed 14th in Barcelona, Spain in the 1992 Olympics.
Following the Olympics, Lance
turned pro. Cycling for the Motorola team, he placed dead last in his first
professional race.
In
1993, Armstrong won the World Road Race in Oslo, Norway and by 1996 he was the
7th ranked
cyclist in the world.
After
competing in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Armstrong’s performance began to falter. He felt tired
and weak. Doctors informed him he had testicular cancer. The cancer eventually
spread to his brain and
he was given a 40% chance of surviving. Following several surgeries and
chemotherapy he was
deemed cancer-free by February 1997.
He
returned to competitive cycling in 1998 and in 1999 won the Tour de France, a 2,274 mile race through
the Alps. He won the event by nearly seven minutes. He has won the Tour de
France in 2000, 2001,
and 2002. Only four riders have won the event five times. "There are no
limits for Armstrong, and he
will be around for a long time," said five-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx.
"He's a great racer and a great
person."
He
has founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation to benefit cancer research and the Lance Armstrong
Junior Race Series to promote cycling and racing for children. He and his wife
Kristin Richard, have a son,
Luke and twin daughters, Isabella and Grace.
He
is the author of Every Second Counts, It’s Not About the Bike: My
Journey, and The Lance Armstrong
Performance Program: Seven Weeks to the Perfect Ride.
For
the Tour de France, 2003, second place Jan Ullrich is not far behind Lance
Armstrong.
Wishing
you great and continued success!
Sincerely,
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