Introduction
The Lance Armstrong doping fraud was a significant doping investigation. It resulted in Lance Armstrong, a former American road racing cyclist, having his seven consecutive Tour de France victories and one Olympic gold revoked. He also eventually admitted to taking performance-enhancing substances in the interview with Ophar Winfrey. His actions caused debates and impacted many parties connected with the sports field. Thus, the paper aims to identify who suffered from Armstrong’s cheating and what the costs were.
Impact and Costs of the Lance Armstrong Doping Scandal
Some of his sponsors and taxpayers were highly impacted by the Armstrong fraud. The United States Postal Service started sponsoring a U.S. cycling team for $1 million to promote its worldwide postal business in 1997 (Rose & Fisher, 2013). Armstrong scammed US taxpayers who served as his teams’ title sponsors for the Tour de France through the US Postal Service. He negotiated lucrative personal sponsorship agreements with Nike, Oakley, and Subaru, among others, and received around a million in annual wages from team sponsors (Rose & Fisher, 2013). However, those who suffered the most from the Armstrong scheme were other cyclists who competed fairly and were deprived of the chance of winning due to Armstrong’s doping.
Cycling was a challenging activity that called for rigorous practice and self-control. On arduous training sessions that sometimes last six hours straight on a bike, cyclists push themselves well past the limit of fatigue (Rose & Fisher, 2013). The typical aches and pains seen by other top sportsmen affected 24 riders, but more serious injuries were frequent (Rose & Fisher, 2013). Many riders sustained broken wrists, shoulders, and fingers from collisions during their careers.
Going regularly through such intense and sometimes dangerous training and preparation for the championship, many athletes did not receive the benefits that Armstrong took by cheating. For example, Armstrong could receive appearance fees of more than $1 million for each race (Rose & Fisher, 2013). He took the opportunity from the other outstanding cyclists at the high cost of millions of dollars invested in him.
Conclusion
Overall, Armstrong defrauded US taxpayers by using the US Postal Service as his team’s Tour de France title sponsor and deprived other athletes of the benefits he received through his fraud. Armstrong made millions of dollars throughout his career, received recognition, and won many races because of his doping. However, those cyclists who participated in the competition fairly lost out on the chance to win because of Armstrong’s doping fraud.
Reference
Rose, C., & Fisher, N. (2013). Following Lance Armstrong: Excellence corrupted. Harvard Business Review.