Facts about his
life:
- He is from Texas, USA and was born on 18th September, 1971.
- At 16, he began competing as a triathlete and was national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990.
- He was an American professional road racing cyclist.
- He has five children.
- He was diagnosed with potentially fatal metastatic testicular cancer in 1996. He survived this cancer after treatment, including brain surgery.
His achievements:
- He was World Champion in 1993.
- He won the Clásica de San Sebastián in 1995 and the Tour DuPont in 1995 and 1996
- He won a bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics
- He was winner of the Tour de France a record seven times
His methods of cheating:
- The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency described Armstrong as the ring leader of the "most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
- He would dope regularly, but use "micro-doses", so as not to fail a test in the morning.
- They evaded anti-doping testers by making last-minute travel changes, skipping certain races, alerting each other through text messages or by simply not answering the knock at the door
- He took steroids, human growth hormone, cortisone and EPO.
- He had blood transfusions to boost performance
His fall from grace:
- From 1999, he was suspected of being a drugs cheat.
- In 2012, he received a lifetime ban from competing in all sports which follow the World Anti-Doping Agency code.
- He lost all of his sponsors, such as Nike (sports goods), Easton-Bell Giro (cycle helmets), Anheuser-Busch (beer), Trek (bikes), FRS (sports drinks), Honey-Stinger (biscuits) and 24 Hour Fitness (gyms).
- He resigned as the Livestrong Foundation President.
- He was stripped of his 7 Tour de France titles.
- He phoned some of his friends to apologise to them.
- In January 2013, he appeared in an interview with Oprah Winfrey and admitted to being a drugs cheat.
