Lance Edward Armstrong, American road racing cyclist, founder and chairman of Lance Armstrong foundation (for cancer research and support) has gone through many wavy paths in his lifetime yet proved himself an ardent sportsman. He is real celebrity who ruled roads in his journey through cycle racing and won record breaking credits unbeatably.
Lance Armstrong was born on September 18, 1971 in Plano, Texas a northern suburb of Dallas. He begun his sporting career in 1983 as a swimmer at the City of Plano Swim Club and finished fourth in Texas state 1,500-meter freestyle. He left swimming after looking a poster for a junior triathlon which he entered and won easily. After just four years Armstrong was the number one ranked triathlete in the 19-and-under group. As an ameteur he was better than five proffessionals ranked that year. He became professional triathlete at the age of sixteen and became national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 at 18 and 19, respectively.
His successive winnings revealed his talent for bicycle racing when he ascertained the U.S. amateur championship in 1991 and got his first professional contract with Motorola in 1992. Armstrong also won first race with Motorola, the Trophee Laigueglia in Italy, same year he competed in the Tour Of Ireland race. Further he worked with professional teams like cofidis in 1997, US postal 1998-2004, discovery channel 2005, astana 2009 and recently with team radioshack.
Armstrong was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer in 1996 at the age of 25. But had an orchiectomy to remove his diseased testicles. By January 1998 he was already engaged in serious training for racing, moving to Europe to race for the U.S. Postal team. But Armstrong is best known for winning Tour de France a record seven consecutive times after having survived cancer.
In 1999, he was named the ABC Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year and achieved Prince of Asturias Award in Sports in 2000. He was also named ‘Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year’ for the years 2002–2005. He received ESPN’s ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, and won the ‘BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award’ in 2003.
Armstrong retired from racing on July 24, 2005, at the end of the 2005 Tour de France, but returned to competitive cycling in January 2009, and finished third in the 2009 Tour de France. His other grand tours include Tour de Suisse and Tour de Luxembourg. Lance Armstrong is henceforth a historic cyclist living in history till time.
