Drugs Cheat or Defeated Hero? Lance Armstrong has a New Battle to Face

Sept. 7, 2012 - PRLog -- Lance Armstrong has always divided the sports world on the ‘has he, hasn’t he’ issue of doping. In May 2011, my agency, ENS published a post on our blog - defending him; like many others we were happy to stand by an outstanding athlete who had never failed a drugs test and, as we saw it, was being besmirched by a group of naysayers acting as judge and jury.  Armstrong’s recent announcement that he will not contest the long standing doping charges from the USADA has made us, along with many other previously steadfast supporters, question our stance.

Clearly these days Armstrong is as much a champion in the fight against cancer as he was as a cyclist. His twitter feed consistently offers messages of support for cancer sufferers which must be enormously heartening for them and their families. The problem is that cycling put him in this position and if his prowess was tainted, then inevitably the good work he has done off the back of it will be sullied too. This isn’t an overstatement; a doping survey conducted during the London 2012 Olympics by Versapak Doping Control Ltd showed that 77% of respondents wanted to see athletes banned for at least one Olympics or equivalent tournament, whilst 20% of respondents would like to see athletes failing dope tests banned from sport in every capacity.  Sports fans don’t like cheats.

A USA Today poll suggests that Americans feel this is a witch hunt so by stepping down Armstrong currently appears to be more wronged that in the wrong. However, along with losing all seven Tour de France titles, at the very least Armstrong will always have a permanent question mark against his name and sporting achievements, which we, as a award winning sport sponsorship  PR agency (http://www.ensltd.com/sports-sponsorship-pr/) , feel may significantly affect his marketing worth.
Armstrong’s statement read ‘We’ve got to stop with this. For my own mental health. For my family. For the foundation. And for the sport of cycling. Cycling doesn’t need this.’  Whilst it isn’t anyone’s fight but his, stepping down from this fight disappoints his believers and, at some point, will be widely seen as an admission by omission. As an award winning PR agency (http://www.ensltd.com) ENS knows all about the success that comes with a good reputation; we just fear that this may be the one summit of his career he fails to breach.