A well known TV phrase springs to mind in relation to Lance Armstrong's halted foray into triathlons…"we now return you to normal programming". While discussion of Lance's situation is still running strongly in the media, talk about his participation as a triathlete seems to be consigned to the message boards now the door to him racing in Kona seems to be all but closed. It seemed (or was?) a bit like a meteorite…lots of sparkle, but fizzled out quickly.So what has happened since the last chapter? From a triathlon point-of-view, WTC stood by their rule that excludes athletes under investigation of doping, which seems to have drawn support for standing by their principles. As Crowie said, hypothetically speaking, if they wouldn't have made an exception for him, then neither should they for Lance. That closed the door to WTC races…unless some legal wrangling can find a work around…and Lance has a lot of legal horsepower in his corner.
But it seems that Lance racing IM anywhere may the least of his concerns at present. Currently he is literally fighting for his life, his reputation, his integrity, the support of millions of fans, and more, as USADA work to land perhaps the biggest fish in the ocean in the fight against drugs. The mud being thrown is leaving dark stains, and in the court of public perception there seems to be hints of resignation that, perhaps, what we all hoped wasn't true, might be. It's a long, slow, drawn out process and regardless of the eventual outcome of the legal charade, the damage is done and the verdict may be met with a "whatever" kind of response. Oh well.
But putting aside the warfare happening in trenches between USADA and Armstrong, where has this left triathlon in light of the huge potential that Armstrong's involvement offered?
For a start, WTC have dropped any reference to Armstrong quicker than a hot potato. Who knows what will happen to the rumoured $millions promised to Livestrong foundation - the value of that money would be worth far less than what he would have brought to the sport and the coffers of WTC. They must surely be pi**ed, bummed, frustrated, dumbfounded and altogether over the fiasco it has all turned into. Associatating themselves with him was a great move in the beginning, but damaged goods don't appeal to shareholders (private equity owned, remember) and so they quickly disassociated him from the brand.
The sport and IM brand has been bigger than any individual since day dot, but Armstrong was threatening to change that balance, which would have - and currently is - posing a risk to the sport being too reliant on any one personality for its successful future. WTC must be re-writing business plans and reverting back to dusty strategy that was shelved when Armstrong walked into their arms. Already we are seeing on-line race day coverage of IM 70.3 events…where Lance "cut his teeth" earlier this year…being scaled back, and any possibility of live TV coverage from Kona into USA remains as a pipe dream. You would also imagine that many big media folks have cancelled their Hawaiian sojurn since the drawcard is not looking like being there.
Perhaps there is an ounce of hope Armstrong might yet race, if some legal deal can be swung to overcome the current impasse. But even if that happens, could he still race? He most likely won't have qualified on points, so he'd need the special treatment of a wildcard…but he's already been denied special treatment by WTC. If he did get a starting slot, what would his fellow pros be thinking?...would they want him there in the prevailing circumstances?? We can be sure that Lance has rarely given a damn what others think, so he might rock in there as confident as ever and just be damned!! The air of excitement that was promising just a month or so ago, has changed for the worse and his bike in the rack may just inflame any lingering animosity amongst his peers.
What is for sure is that he hasn't been seen since his last race at Honu, and the stream of training updates have dwindled to naught. He didn't front up at Challenge Roth, and there seems to be no sign of him racing where he (legally) can in the near future. What he's up to is anyone's guess.
So assuming his chance of racing Kona is dead in the water, what of the expectations for Kona this year? Now there will be just one gunslinger, Macca, in the mix against the established star, Crowie (not withstanding an awful race last weekend), and the guys who have promised but not delivered a win, the likes of Raelert, Vanhoenacher, Henning, Jacobs, Bracht and others. Take out the wild card of Lieto on the bike (although he hasn't been an overall threat for a few years) but add in some emerging stars like Van Lierde (who I think would have beaten Armstrong at IM France), Cunnama, Dellow and others, and the race both seems to have a look of familiarity to it, but also the element of unknown that makes it such an appealing contest each year.
One positive side effect of going back to normal is that the women's race will get the coverage it deserves, rather than possibly being pushed aside under the saturation the men's race would have inevitably got.
There's a lot of things this whole situation has shown, none more so than people can be so quickly forgotten, no matter who you are, and that despite the right to be innocent until proven guilty, perception is perhaps the most important sentiment that matters to both individuals and organisations. At the moment the perception around Armstrong is questionable, and rather than risk this rubbing off on their brand, WTC have taken us back to the future, ready for life as it was going to be before he made a comeback. What comeback, I hear you ask??
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