How did Lance Armstrong influence the world?

Answer 1

In many ways, some good, some bad. I am no longer an Armstong apologist, just a realist. For one, He influenced others to Cheat on his teams, He was the GC rider, so it is only natural. Other GC riders did the same, proven by how ramp-id it was throughout the sport (See operation Puerto). He cheated, however he is not this mastermind, the systems where long in place before him. Cycling has been this way since 1991. With that said, He influenced the popularity of cycling He took it to heights never before reached. The gravy train officially started and no one wanted to jump off - UCI/TDF cough cough. Everyone was making fist over fist. Lance, teammates, Sponsors, UCI/TDF ... everyone. Make no mistake, if they wanted to catch him while he was winning, they could have. The money/popularity was to great though, they let it happen... Make no mistake about that. Everyone's hands are dirty. NOT one of those hands can honestly throw a stone at Lance...

He Gave us hope with his story. But at the same time, cheated us. I still believe he won all those tours. EPO, Steriods, may help, but you still have to do 85% or more of the work. Make no delusions about it.

Where he really started to influence the world was in cancer patients and politics. He gave hope to people on death beds. I'm sure anyone lying in that bed could careless what he did, Hope justifies what he did to some of us. Really how you look at this side of his story depends on if you have ever been touched by cancer/sickness.

Now to politics - He became to large, that is why USADA spent ridicuouls amounts of american tax payer dollars to dethrone him. Was he a future presidential candidate? I wouldn't bet against it. He had the power to influence the US elections, possibly even France. He is considered a demographic, Armstrong foundation supporters. He used his following as a corporate lobbyist would. Make no mistake about it, Lance was very influential in cycling, drug testing labs, and political issues. Once the politicians discovered how powerful he could be, they spend millions to bring him down. Lance's political influence "almost" saved his reputation, allowing to stop the hearings once. But the opposing political party continued to throw their weight around... In the end, Lance lost that fight, thus we have the fallout. His teammates would never have talk, specifically Hincappie. Its a truly amazing story... This was a witch hunt, but not for the reasons of making cycling clean. We all know its dirty. As unfornately most sports are. This was more about ending/limiting Armstrong's political reach than anything else. Just look how long it took USADA to gather the information 2.5 years? Was it accidental that it comes out during the presidential elections? Maybe, maybe not, but I smell more to this story.