Lance Armstrong was the greatest cyclist of all time.
He won the famous Tour de France a stunning seven times, more than anyone else ever did. Armstrong was then stripped of all his victories in 2012 as he was accused of using performance enhancing drugs during each of his races. The most stunning fall from grace I’ve seen in any athlete, ever. At least in my lifetime…
Why did Armstrong feel confident to drugs to boost hist physical prowess? First and foremost, he did it because everyone else did it. And Armstrong figured, if everyone else does it, why not simply do it more, and do it better? He was also a cancer survivor and he figured, since he had undergone chemotherapy in the past, certain chemicals would inevitably be present in his body in higher than normal doses, anyway, which would give him some degree of plausible deniability that other cheaters didn’t have. He then upped the doses, because why the hell not?
When Armstrong was stripped of his victories in 2012, the cycling federation was unable to declare who did win in some of the years he raced — 1999, for instance, and 2005, because all the runner-ups were also on drugs. That’s the main reason many famous people refuse to follow the rules: they assume no one else is following them, either. And sometimes, like in Armstrong’s case, they’re kind of right.
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