Lance Armstrong Tragic Hero

Drawn to cycling prior to his success as a triathlon star during high school, Lance Armstrong faced many ups and downs until ultimately coming out on top. These series of events begin with his adoption and build up to the success of cycling career prior to his cancer diagnosis, recovering steadily and achieving things doctors thought he could never do again, the momentous loss of his successes resulted from his confession. Suffering years of accusations, Armstrong admitted to the use of performance enhancing drug use live on TV. Armstrong's judgment error involving lying and cheating to magnify his performance ultimately lead to his demise in many ways, therefore Armstrong fits the mold of a tragic hero.

Throughout the course of his career,

Just as other athletes had done in the past, Armstrong followed suit and came forth with a full confession to steroid use. This largely publicised event previewed as a 2 hour special on Oprah Winfrey’s newly launched OWN Network (“Doping Confession” 1). Although possibly serving as a publicity stunt, for Armstrong to debunk any and all rumours about his performance enhancers use shows an ounce of decency thought to be nonexistent. Likewise, once the realization that his true empowerment which is derived from his efforts to provide aid to those who have endured the beast of cancer sets in, the misconstrued image of Armstrong diseases. The now current CEO and president of Livestrong Craig Ullman noted that “regardless of what anyone says, Lance Armstrong has been one of the most tireless and effective cancer advocates in the world” (Lapowsky 2). Although Armstrong did in fact cheat, no one can truly hate the man for it. Given the actuality that he has not only faced a life threatening disease but founded a charity to provide assistance for those facing the same, the man cannot and will not be overlooked. Finally, Armstrong will forever retain an ounce of respect due in large to the overcoming he overthrew. In spite of his wrongdoings, “a small kernel of Darwinian, animal-to-animal respect remains. Because he lived. He beat the the best” (Price 4). This aspect of his story was what contributed to his upper hand towards public appeal. Although this story was perfect so long, especially in a time when cancer was more of threat than years to come, built up animosity towards him would never span to physical challenges he endured. Armstrong’s extraneous efforts in order to reach the top are impeccable for someone with such a storied past yet his success in now way counteracts the cheating and lying that