Lance Armstrong is a world class American athlete who won several world cycling championships and also a famous cancer survivor. This remarkable athlete won the highly prestigious Tour de France seven times straight in a row which made him the most successful athlete in the world of cycling. Who is Lance Armstrong and how did he developed such amazing skills to excel both professionally as an athlete and in his personal life as a successful cancer survivor?

This is his story.

Lance Armstrong grew up in a family where money is scarce but his mother saved up enough to buy him a Schwinn Mag Scrambler when he was a kid. He was an active precocious child and was curious to know about everything and wanted to participate in anything that interest him. The young Armstrong was very athletic from the start and he spent most of his time cycling, playing basketball and swimming in the evening. His talent began to show during his teen years and during his senior year in high school, he was qualified to train with the Olympic team and then travel to Russia to participate in his first ever international tournament.

Soon after his graduation from high school in 1989, he was accepted into the U.S. National Cycling team and worked along with the famous coach Chris Carmichael. He learned from Carmichael that it takes more than physical endurance to win a race. It takes strategy and some killer tactics to be the champion. Sure enough, in 1991, Lance Armstrong became the winner of the U.S. National Amateur Championship.
He then rode in the 1992 Olympics game and finished 14th. Armstrong became a professional athlete right after this event. He won the second place in a World Cup race in Zurich, Switzerland and this marks a new beginning in Lance Armstrong’s career. He met a man by the name of Jim Ochowicz, who later signed him up with the Motorola team.

Armstrong’s career took flight in 1993 and he went on to win ten titles. He was the 1993 World Champion and the US Pro Champion.
In 1996, he won the second Tour DuPont tournament and achieved several major victories. He signed a two million dollar contract with the French Cycling team. This success enables him to purchase a brand new Porsche and a gorgeous home in Austin, Texas. However, he was unable to participate in the Tour DuPont because of his ill health.

Right after his 25th birthday, Armstrong began to cough up blood. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which had spread mercilessly to his abdomen, lymph nodes and the lungs. He was immediately put under intensive medical care and had an operation to remove one of his testicles the day after the diagnosis. Armstrong was given a cocktail of drugs to help save is life and control the spread of the cancerous cells.

Armstrong went on to recover from his battle against cancer and proceeded to win several major competitions and serves as an inspiration for the rest of us. In July 2009, he announced plans to return to the Tour de France 2010 with Radio Shack as his team’s main sponsor.