关于运动员服用兴奋剂的事件，我们时有听闻。近的就有今年伦敦奥运会上炒得沸沸扬扬的西方媒体对中国游泳队的指控。然而，就在这一风波余音未了之际，美国反兴奋剂机构却宣布迎来一次重大的“胜利”，而且这一次“绊倒”的更是自行车赛场上神一般的人物——兰斯·阿姆斯特朗！这位抗癌斗士、自行车环法赛七冠王最终选择了放弃为自己抗争，带着无数人的失望与悲痛走下“神坛”。这不禁让我们这些对运动奇迹一度怀有希冀的人陷入新一轮的困惑：在追求更高、更快、更强的体育事业中，到底还有没有“神”的存在？
Lance Armstrong—could a Hollywood screenwriter come up with a better name for an American hero?—had returned that year to the world’s most gruelling test of 2)endurance, the 3)Tour de France. He had spent the previous two years being treated for 4)testicular cancer that had spread throughout his body, which, at the time, was more often than not, a death sentence. The 5)chemotherapy Armstrong received was so powerful, and so 6)toxic, that he suffered burns on his arms from the inside. How could somebody even ride a bicycle after that, let alone win a race that lasted a month, scaled the highest peaks in Europe, and covered more than two thousand miles?
兰斯·阿姆斯特朗——即使是好莱坞编剧家，也无法为“美国英雄”这角色编出一个更厉害的人物了吧？——那一年，他回归环法自行车赛，那是世界上对耐力要求最为严苛的试炼。在此之前，他花了两年时间治疗已蔓延全身的睾丸癌，而那时，睾丸癌几乎就是死刑。阿姆斯特朗接受高强度化疗，极为毒性，他的手臂经受着由内到外被灼伤的苦痛。经历过如此折磨之后，谁还能再骑自行车？更别提赢得长达一个月的比赛，攀登欧洲最高峰，骑过两千多英里路了。
But he not only rode—he won. Again and again and again. Each victory seemingly more 7)thrilling than the last. Seven Tours in all; a feat 8)unmatched in sports.
Cycling had long been 9)tainted by the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs, and Armstrong’s achievement was so 10)astounding that many people simply assumed he relied on them just as others had. The French were the loudest and most persistent critics. But others wondered, too.
Now he is for the ages, in his own Lance way. Lance Armstrong has joined the legion of the lost, the great athletes who were 11)barred or 12)exiled for sins admitted or charged or suspected. Armstrong, who on August 23th, 2012 ended his fight against charges by the United States Anti-Doping Agency that he used performanceenhancing drugs, now belongs in that pantheon of stars who had to go away but never really did. They 13)haunt our 14)psychic memories of who they were, how they 15)excelled, what they could have been. They clog up the sporting record books with their asterisks and their defaults and their suspensions and their white-out accomplishments.
Eventually, the new scrutiny and other suits forced cycling to tighten up. Even without a positive test, the antidoping agency appeared set to move forward with 16)arbitration. It claimed to have more than 10 eyewitnesses who would testify that Armstrong used banned blood transfusions, the blood booster EPO, 17)testosterone and other drugs to win the Tour. The antidoping agency also said it had blood test results of Armstrong’s from 2009 and 2010 that were consistent with doping. It was too dirty to go on like that. Two disgraced champions sang on Armstrong: Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton. The United States Anti-Doping Agency became, as the saying goes, interested in Armstrong. And finally, that most loyal and longstanding outrider of them all, George Hincapie, was forced to give testimony. 18)Omertàgoes only so far.
This is not the first time a top cyclist has suffered such a career 19)implosion—it has been common in cycling in recent years, as doping has 20)crippled the sport. Several recent Tour de France champions have been found guilty of doping, including the American rider Floyd Landis and Alberto Contador of Spain. But none of them had the stature of Armstrong.
By declining to stage any more battles to maintain his innocence, Armstrong is issuing a nonofficial admission of that 21)ultimate legal admission: not mea culpa but no más. Ultimately, his lawyers must have told him it was over. His decision means he will almost certainly be stripped of his seven Tour titles, the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Olympics and all other titles, awards and money he won from August 1998 on. It also means he will be barred for life from competing, coaching or having any official role with any Olympic sport or other sport that follows the World Anti-Doping Code.
He could have chosen to go to arbitration, which would h a v e m e a n t that witnesses could testify against him in a hearing possibly o p e n t o t h e public. Instead, he chose to bow out of the process.
In doing so, he emphasized that his Tour victories would always be his.
“I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours,” Armstrong said, adding: “The toughest event in the world, where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that. If Lance is clean, it is the greatest comeback in the history of sport. If he isn’t, it would be the greatest 22)fraud.”
但是，他不只是骑完了——他还赢得了比赛，还赢了一次又一次。每一次的胜利都看似比上一次更惊心动魄。一共七次环法冠军，这是运动史上无与伦比的壮举。
自行车赛一直有滥用兴奋剂的丑闻，阿姆斯特朗的成绩如此惊人，很多人就很容易猜想他只是像其他人一样依赖兴奋剂。法国人的批评就最为猛烈且从未间断，而其他人也同样持有怀疑。
如今阿姆斯特朗已是时代的经典人物，以他独有的兰斯方式。兰斯·阿姆斯特朗加入了迷途者的军团，那些最伟大的运动员们，皆因认罪、被指控或涉嫌使用兴奋剂而被禁赛或被逐出比赛。阿姆斯特朗，于2012年8月23日放弃与美国反兴奋剂机构的抗争，该局指控他使用违禁药物，现在他属于万神殿的恒星，不得不流逝却从未真正销声匿迹。恒星们常常出没于我们心灵的记忆，提醒我们：他们是谁，他们是如何超越以及他们本该取得怎样的成就。那些赛场成绩记录簿上，填满了他们的星号、违规行为、被停赛经历和被修正的战绩。
最终，新的审查及其他诉讼使得自行车运动加强了管理。即使检查结果没有呈阳性，反兴奋剂机构似乎也准备推进仲裁。其宣称有超过十名的目击者能证明阿姆斯特朗注射违禁促红细胞生成素EPO、睾丸素以及其他药物，以赢得比赛。反兴奋剂机构还表示，阿姆斯特朗从2009年到2010年的血液测试结果符合服用兴奋剂的猜测。这些指责的手段低劣得让人不想再继续一一列举了。两位声名狼藉的冠军，佛洛伊德·兰迪斯和泰勒·汉密尔顿，也指认阿姆斯特朗。如人们所说，美国反兴奋剂机构开始变得对阿姆斯特朗感兴趣起来。而最终，一直以来最忠诚的先锋护卫，乔治·因卡皮耶也被迫出庭作证。缄默法则也不过到此为止罢了。
这已经不是第一次有顶级自行车运动员在职业生涯中遭受这样的内爆——这在最近几年的自行车运动中已是屡见不鲜，兴奋剂已使得这项运动斑驳不堪。最近几次的环法冠军都被发现使用兴奋剂，包括美国骑手佛洛伊德·兰迪斯和西班牙骑手阿尔伯托·康塔多。但是他们都没有阿姆斯特朗那样的地位。
放弃再上演更多的抗争以维护自己的清白，阿姆斯特朗针对自己最终在法律上的认罪发表了一个非官方陈述：不是我的过失，仅此而已。最终，他的律师告诉他一切都结束了。他的决定意味着他几乎肯定会被剥夺环法七冠，他在2000年奥运会获得的铜牌以及其他所有的头衔、奖项和从1998年8月起赢得的所有奖金。这也意味着他将终身被禁参赛、从教或者担任任何官方职务，无论是在奥运会项目中还是在其他遵循世界反兴奋剂条例的运动项目中。
他本可以提请仲裁，这意味着，证人可以在对公众开放的听证会上指证他。相反，他选择了退出这场对决。
即使是这么做，他强调环法赛冠军头衔永远是属于他的。
“我知道是谁夺得了环法七冠，我的队友知道是谁夺得了环法七冠，所有我的对手也都知道是谁夺得了环法七冠，”阿姆斯特朗说道，并补充道：“世界上最艰难的赛事，唯有最强大的人才能获胜。没有人可以改变。如果兰斯是清白的，这就是运动史上最大的复兴。如果他不清白，这将是最大的欺骗。”
