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Lance Armstrong was the most prolific cycling champion in history. He founded a highly successful charity – the Livestrong Foundation. He also cheated, was stripped of every title and banned for life for using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. After all his transgressions, however, he should be forgiven because of the good his charitable contributions have accomplished.

Cycling is one of the most grueling sports in the world but also one of the most corrupt. The United States Anti-Doping Agency has suspended 89 American cyclists since 2001, with nine of those, including Armstrong, being lifetime bans. In every Tour de France since 2002, at least one rider besides Armstrong has been either stripped of that year’s title or tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in the Tour itself, or another race that season.

“It wasn’t possible to win the Tour de France without doping,” Armstrong told Oprah Winfrey in an interview on Thursday. “I didn’t invent the culture [of doping], but I didn’t stop the culture and I’m sorry for that.”

Armstrong has been heavily scrutinized and vilified for his drug use and elaborate cover-up, but his charitable contributions should outweigh these negatives.

Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation was given a 64 percent rating out of 70 by Charity Navigator, a charity evaluator. Livestrong has raised over $470 million since 1997 for cancer research and programs designed to help those with the disease. Eighty-two percent of Livestrong’s funding goes to its initiatives, while the federal government requires only five percent of a foundation’s net assets go to the cause itself.

After Armstrong’s victory against his own bout with metastasized testicular cancer and his seven Tour wins, he inspired throngs of supporters – the healthy, cancer survivors, and sufferers alike – to rally to his cause and subscribe to the “Livestrong” way.

Ultimately, cycling is trivial – Lance Armstrong is simply a man riding a bicycle – the vitriol will subside and Lance Armstrong will be another disgraced sports figure desperately trying to regain his reputation. Maybe Armstrong’s drug use was a detriment to his health, his reputation, and his accomplishments, but if one person can be cared for or given a sense of moral or emotional support against the world’s leading cause of death, it would have been worth it. Armstrong should be forgiven because he made that happen.

 

https://www.usada.orgtesting/results/sanctions/

https://www.livestrong.org/who-we-are/financials

https://www.usada.org/athletes/results/u-s-postal-service-pro-cycling-team-investigation/

https://mcf.org/search?keys=publictrust%20faq%20payout

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.advanced

https://www.letour.fr/fr

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