Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrongis an American former professional road racing cyclist. He is the 1993 Elite Men's Road Race World Champion, and he had won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of his Tour de France victories in 2012 after a protracted doping scandal...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCyclist
Date of Birth18 September 1971
CityPlano, TX
CountryUnited States of America
winning unfair-advantage seven
I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999.
pain forever champion
But the fact is that I wouldn't have won even a single Tour de France without the lesson of illness. What it teaches is this: pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.
use action knows
When you know your not going to die, you have to ask yourself... What's the highest and best use for myself.
heart facts priceless
I wanted to live, but whether I would or not was mystery, and in the midst of confronting that fact, even at that moment, I was beginning to sense that to stare into the heart of such a fearful mystery wasn't a bad thing. To be afraid is a priceless education. P 99
believe long shining
I believed in belief, for its own shining sake. To believe in the face of utter hopelessness, every article of evidence to the contrary, to ignore apparent catastrophe - what other choice was there? We are so much stronger than we imagine, and belief is one of the most valiant and long-lived human characteristics. To believe, when all along we humans know that nothing can cure the briefness of this life, that there is no remedy for our basic mortality, that is a form of bravery. To continue believing in yourself...believing in whatever I chose to believe in, that was the most important thing.
education priceless
Fear is priceless education.
giving looks
What ever your 100% looks like, give it.
strong race saving
We sped on, across the plains, toward Metz. I hung back, saving myself. It is called the Race of Truth. The early stages separate the strong riders from the weak. Now the weak would be eliminated altogether.
nice one-day three
There were something like 50 good, arduous climbs around Nice, solid inclines of ten miles or more. The trick was not to climb every once in awhile, but to climb repeatedly. I would do three different climbs in one day, over the course of a six- or seven-hour ride. A 12 mile climb took about an hour, so that tells you what my days were like.
years careers records
My career is going to be played out year by year. Will I be here in 2004? I don't know. The record won't keep me here. Happiness will.
sorry believe hard-work
To all the cynics, I'm sorry for you, ... I'm sorry you can't believe in miracles. This is a great sporting event and hard work wins it.
long-ago old-wounds use
Nothing goes to waste, you put it all to use, the old wounds and long-ago slights become the stuff of competitive energy.
rain fighting hands
During our lives...we experience so many setbacks, and fight such a hand-to-hand battle with failure, head down in the rain, just trying to stay upright and to have a little hope.
antidote
Hope that is the only antidote to fear.