Lance Armstrong Biography
A sports enthusiast from the time he was barely a teenager, Lance Edward Armstrong has conquered all obstacles on the racing course and he remains at the peak next to other legendary icons of the game. He is popular with the professional name Lance Armstrong and his background dates from September 18 1971 when he was born in Dallas, Texas, USA.
Armstrong was brought up by his parents Terry and Linda Armstrong in a poor but stable home for the first years of his life before his parents separated and Linda Armstrong got full custody over him, with a tougher life young Armstrong ventured into sports early partly due to interest and also because his engaging in the activities served as a distraction from his hardships. At school Armstrong was a multiple winner in various sporting events from water sports, swimming to bike riding, so much was his focus in the passion that class work went barely unnoticed, for this reason his grades were consistently poor.
By the time he was getting to teenage hood Armstrong has competed in all swimming tournaments he knew of and at the time he was the undefeated junior champion. He kept up with his other favourite sport, cycling, on television and the Tour de France was the most intriguing for him, Armstrong vowed to one day take part and win the challenge.
Determination and patience yielded fruit and Armstrong went on to the big league races in 1991 winning the U.S. amateur championship, it was not all rosy as the following race was a big flop for the new entrant and he was ranked last at the end of the championship
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Armstrong made a comeback in 1993 with a scoop of the title at the UCI Road World Championship, this was a fete previously accomplished only by older and well established cyclists. Breaking this record Armstrong became a threat, keenly scrutinised by fellow competitors and racing companies.
Now familiar with the professional goings of the sport Armstrong continued his winning streak in 1995 by walking away with the Clasica de San Sebastian title, the Tour DuPont title and the most memorable for the cyclist, the Tour De France title.
A health complication halted his career for two years from 1996 to 1998 but on coming back Armstrong proved he had not forgotten the game and that he still had his skills by winning the Tour de France in 1999 for the third time in his career.
In the 2000’s Armstrong was even more successful as titles to his name included the Vuelta a Espaqa, Tour de Luxembourg , Oslo Elite Men's Road Race, Tour de Suisse and seven Tour De France titles every year up to 2005. Armstrong had a brief stint outside active competition between 2005 and 2009 before making a comeback and signing a competing contract with Motorola in 2010. He competed for the last time on Tour De France in 2010 where he scooped the bronze medal his second retirement from the sport is an affair that remains questionable by the media since the athlete had left the sport previously in 2005 only to return in 2009.
He is the founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a non-profit organisation that deals with promoting awareness for cancer and donating funds for the research for a cure.
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