Only with his Tour de France title finally assured during the last leg on the cobblestoned Champs-Elys Dees, did Lance Armstrong celebrate by lifting a flute of champagne to a resounding "Cheers!''
Overcoming crashes, illness, hard-charging rivals and plain old bad luck, the Texan won his hardest but sweetest Tour on Sunday -- a record-tying fifth straight that places him among the greatest cyclists ever.
Unlike previous years, when he won by comfortable margins, the grueling 23-day, 2,125-mile clockwise trek around France pushed Armstrong to the limit.
"Before the Tour started I was very confident about winning. But before next year's Tour, I won't be so confident,'' he said.
Armstrong joined Spaniard Miguel Indurain as the only riders to win cycling's most brutal and prestigious race five times consecutively -- a record Armstrong plans to break in 2004.
King de Lance
Armstrong
A look at Lance Armstrong's Tour de France career:
TOUR VICTORIES: Five straight from 1999-03, tying the record for consecutive wins set by Miguel Indurain of Spain (1991-95). Three others won five Tours, but not in a row -- Jacques Anquetil of France (1957, 1961-64), Eddy Merckx of Belgium (1969-72, 1974), and Bernard Hinault of France (1978-79, 1981-82, 1985).
STAGE VICTORIES: 16 -- one each in 1993, 1995, 2000, 2003; four each in 1999, 2001, 2002. His U.S. Postal Service team also won a time trial together this year. Merckx won a record 34 stages, Hinault 28, Anquetil 16, and Indurain 12.
WINNING MARGINS: Beat Alex Zulle of Switzerland by 7 minutes, 37 seconds in 1999, Jan Ullrich of Germany by 6:02 in 2000, Ullrich by 6:44 in 2001, Joseba Beloki of Spain by 7:17 in 2002, and Ullrich by 1:01 this year. The largest gap between the winner and runner-up in race history is nearly 3 hours -- 2:59:21 to be exact -- set by Maurice Garin of France in the first Tour in 1903. The smallest margin is 8 seconds, in Greg LeMond's victory over Laurent Fignon in 1989.
AGE: 31; Armstrong will turn 32 in September and plans to compete in the 2004 Tour. Since 1953, seven riders 31 or older have won. The oldest was Firmin Lambot of Belgium, 36 in 1922. Of the other five-time champions, only Indurain won at 31 -- and that was the Spaniard's age for his final victory.
ENTRIES: This was Armstrong's ninth Tour de France. Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands raced in the most, 16.
In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, young Louie Zamperini is the troublemaker of Torrance, California. After his life had taken a mischievous turn, his older brother, Pete, managed to convert his love of running away, into a passion for running on the track. At first, Louie’s old habit of smoking gets the best of him, and it is very hard for him to compare to the other track athletes. After a few months of training, coached by Pete, Louie begins to break high school records, and became the fastest high school miler in 1934. After much more hard work, goes to the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 but is no match for the Finnish runners. He trains hard for the next Olympic Games, and hopes to beat the four minute
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James Cleveland Owens otherwise known as “Jesse” was an Olympic long jumper and sprinter whose speed and inspirational defiance of Hitler shocked the world. The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin and Adolf Hitler of the Nazi party believed that these Olympic Games would showcase the great skill of the Aryan (Caucasian) race, and the last person he would expect to show him up would be an African-American man (Barnes 1). With sixty-six U.S. Olympic contestants competing in the Games, the American race was really put on the spot in front of Hitler, the most powerful man in the world (Smith 1). Jesse Owens was one of these men, and while being laughed at by Hitler during his one hundred meter sprint against six other Caucasian sprinters, he won by a landslide. With that victory and his other three Olympic gold medals the Owens name was able to be remembered and looked up to for eternity. Jessie Owens is such a great athlete and individual because he defied Adolf Hitler, achieved more than expected of himself, and broke records with ease.
a race with his friend Breeca. He knew that he would win with no effort at all,
...ing two similar ones from Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx for being the youngest player to hit 500 home runs and then later 600 home runs. He is a phenomenal player but unfortunately again there will always be a question of whether this was because of his talent after several years or if his records should be more attributed to the drugs.
The Seagate Ultras on November 26, 1994, included races of 60 km, 50 miles, and 100 km, each run on the same 1.1 mile loop. There were approximately 10, 10, and 6 runners, respectively, in these races, which were judged separately. My 9:29 time for 100 km was not very fast, but it won that race easily, and I also went through 60 km and 50 miles faster than anyone in those races. So I am not a novice.
Did you know that Ryan Dungey has already won every motocross title by the time he was 24. He won in 2009 in the Lites supercross Championship (250cc) and also the 250 Motocross Championship. In 2010 he went up to the 450 class and won the supercross Championship and the Motocross Championship when he was a rookie. Ryan Dungey was the 2nd youngest rider in the history of Motocross to accomplish that feat. In 2010 Ryan Dungey lead Team USA to victory in the Motocross Des Nations. He doesn’t always just focus on Motocross and himself, Ryan is a key spokesperson for Nike’s LIVESTRONG Campaign for cancer awareness, after losing his grandmother to cancer in 2005. He races in her memory. In 2011, Ryan Dungey became a LIVESTRONG Global Envoy member.
Jimmy worked like a demon to make up for the difference. By age 8, Jimmy was skillful enough to enter into tournaments, and he made a good showing in them. Jimmy did not win his first tournament until he was in the ten-year-old competition. The losses only gave him determination and the wins only gave humbleness. Jimmy Connors, a paragon of all sorts, had an unconquerable spirit. Jimmy knew that he had to be himself out on the tennis courts if he wanted to succeed. At times in Jimmy’s career, he was known as a spoiled brat for his cocky attitude. He was often called “mouth”. He had this spirit ever since he was a young boy. Being the smaller kid of his age group, he had to have something to hold onto.
His prowess behind the wheel would again be recognized in 1950 when he achieved the fastest ever elapsed time for the hill-climb at White’s Hill in the open category, driving the
Johnson got his first motorcycle at age 3 when his father, also a motorcycle enthusiast, bought him a mini-bike. He ran his first motocross race when he was 9 and, at age 16, Johnson got his pro license so that he could begin to compete in the big leagues. Four years later, in 1984, he won the first of many championship titles while riding for the Yamaha factory motocross
As we all know Lance Armstrong is famous for winning the Tour de France a record number of seven times. This is unreal for the normal human being and he did so after winning the battle against testicular cancer. I know you are probably sitting there wondering how can someone that has already been through so much from battling cancer go on to win the Tour de France seven times. Well this went through the minds of others as well and they began to question whether Lance was taking performance enhancing drugs during the times he raced.
The breakaway riders weave and bob as the lead is vied for before the next turn.
Rory Mcilroy started golf at the age of 2 hitting balls in his house and putting the ball around the kitchen or his daily chipping in the dryer. Rorys father inspired him into golf at a very young age, rory was hitting 40 yard drives by the age of 4. Rorys work ethic and drive that he has had since he was a young golfer has got him to the level that he is at today. Rory has reached the level of being the number one golfer in the world, and continues to work hard to keep that stature that he has achieved. Rory has been competing on the tour for over ten years now and has his share of wins.
After winning six junior championships between the ages of eight and 15, Tiger went on to become the youngest U.S. Junior Amateur Champion in history, a feat he would repeat the following year, making him also the only player to ever win more than once. He would even go on to win it for a third consecutive time the following year. At 16 he competed in the Nissan Los Angeles Open, his first PGA Tour event. At 18, Woods won the U.S. Amateur Championship, the youngest to accomplish this feat. Next, he enrolled at Stanford University and at 19 successfully defended his Amateur Championship title, the second of three consecutive titles.
...orking hard like the rest of his competitors. His entire career was gone in an instant. Stripped of his titles and banned from ever professionally cycling again left him as only a man addicted to drugs.