Fallen from grace-lies,doping and LIVESTRONG

Another hero has fallen from grace. Just this morning Lance Armstrong was stripped of another title, another medal, by the IOC. I along with millions of people am extremely disappointed and saddened by his lies and overall intent to deceive. I am also very excited to watch his interview on Oprah tonight. It is difficult for me to overlook the amazing work and charity he has done with cancer and LIVESTRONG. I want to believe there are two versions of Lance Armstrong, the ‘good’ one that is a beautiful humanitarian and the ‘complicated’ one, that fell into the machine/world of doping and black listed and threatened so many people around him. How could a man who has committed so many kind acts do something so sinister and dishonest?

What is doping exactly? Doping in sports is considered the use of any performance enhancing drug or procedure (blood transfusions) that give the athlete an unfair advantage. There are numerous types of hormones and drugs that fall under the category of doping. The following are the main ones that Lance Armstrong is being accused of taking.

EPO- increases the number of red blood cells in the athletes circulatory system.  This drug can be administered through and IV in what is called “micro-dosing”, as to not be detected during routine urine screenings.

• Blood Transfusions-this is where the athlete’s blood is drawn and then re-infused a few hours before a race. By re-infusing blood, the red blood cells are carrying more oxygen. This helps the athlete to recover more quickly during competition. There is really no way to test for this, but many teammates testified seeing Armstrong participate in this on numerous occasions.
• HGH- Human growth hormone is used to increase lean muscle mass, aid in weight loss, increase strength and help with recovery.
• Cortisone- can increase recovery and is said to give a burst/high of energy.

The world will sit and wait for the interview that will set the record straight tonight. But, what is the worst part of this whole thing? The fact that he took the drugs or that he lied? And maybe we should let all athletes take enhancing drugs, at least they will all be on an equal playing field.  What are your thoughts?