A travesty of sports heroism

In sports there are heroes and then there are fans. And in sports again there are fans and then there are super-heroes. A sportsman’s journey to stardom might be lonely, but from there on it’s a reassuring “You will never walk alone” journey to super-stardom and beyond. The beyond, however, is sans frontiers and left to one’s imagination, as even a demigod’s status is well within reach.

For ages, we, the sports-lovers, have created many such sports-superheroes-cum-demigods. Our deep, unsatisfied fantasies are manifested in these larger than life portrayals, like Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong. We crave illusion, and historically many a sportsman has proved himself to be a vessel of self-deception. In the light of the recent fall from grace of Armstrong, we are obliged, if not compelled, to take stock of ourselves. We had taken to the fancy of inexorably investing in them the lofty ideals, which they themselves weren’t sure of.

Lance Armstrong to me was ‘the complete hero‘, both on and off the cycling track. I vividly recount the tales of his heroic exploits, which had been narrated to me in my childhood days. I was repeatedly told by the wise men that life is not a bed of roses and only those who successfully fight off the adversities emerge as the champions, and every single time Armstrong raised his head as the perfect exemplar of the ideal champion. I was made to believe that he was much more than a cancer-survivor-turned-greatest-cyclist-of-all-time; he was a man who transcended the sport. Yes, to me he was the complete hero.

All was fine and well with the tiny utopia created around the lofty image of my hero, until the bomb fell. When the reports of the dope scandal surfaced, I was quick to dismiss them as products of rumor mills grudgingly trying to defame my hero. I was desperately trying to hold on to the vestiges of the erstwhile utopia and remain blissfully oblivious. I justified my stand with the argument that he had been subjected to tens of dope tests, and had come out clean every single time. I also believed that he was not fighting the charges because he was sure of his integrity and wanted to avoid the murky waters. Why the freaking hell were they leveling such baseless charges against him!

Now that the truth has been uncovered and lies starkly naked in front of my eyes, there is no scope for self-deception. Armstrong has been rightfully stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and has also been banned for life. In the words of the UCI president Pat McQuaid: “Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten.” He is being touted as the face of institutionalized doping, and has the dubious distinction of running the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful program that sports has ever seen. In fact, a particular testimony of former teammate David Zabriskie that he was coerced and to some extent forced into doping is sickening and disturbing for people around the world, let alone sports-lovers.

I wish to ponder what exactly was at the nucleus of this episode of vulgar-heroism. Probably, Armstrong was over-confident after his escapade with death, and thought that he had the license to cheat, having cheated death itself. I don’t know if he was trying to do a white tiger, getting out of the rooster coop (that, of cancer) which he had been placed into for no apparent fault of his. Perhaps, he wanted to settle scores with destiny, and wanted a brighter life at any cost, irrespective of the legality or morality of the means he employed.

Lance Armstrong founded LIVESTRONG to battle cancer worldwide, and his charisma attracted huge funds for the trust. He might be a good man genuinely concerned for the welfare of cancer victims. But this episode has certainly made me doubt his intentions. Was he just trying to wash off some of his guilt? I’m afraid I will never know his intention and motives. The fact that Nike has jumped off the Armstrong bandwagon doesn’t bode well for the foundation, which in the long run might even be hard-pressed for funds. The yellow Livestrong wristbands which were once in vogue, and symbolized strength and resilience, will lose most of their meaning and find fewer takers.

“I’ve been better, but I’ve also been worse,” says Lance Armstrong. I believe that the remark might provide a bone for contention in debates. Few may say he was more good than bad, and vice-versa. Is it possible for the good to offset the bad? I’m afraid it’s not so. It’s a very well-known dictum that it takes years to make a name for oneself, but only a jiffy to undo it all. Moreover, in this case, the foundation, on which the good was constructed, was itself bad.

I have reasons to believe that this episode won’t mean a thing to some of his loyalists, and it will hardly bother them that his name will be struck off the record books. But, to a few like me, sports-heroism will never be the same again. We will no longer trust the claims of achieving greatness in defiance of the adversities without compromising on one’s integrity. This travesty of sports-heroism will make us more skeptical in our outlook. The love and appreciation from now on will be based on sound objective grounds rather than emotional or sentimental aspects.