Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong was born on September 18, 1971 in Texas. His mother is Linda Mooneyham and Eddie Charles Gunderson. At the age of 12 he began his sporting career as a swimmer at the city Plano swim club. He abandoned swimming competition after seeing a poster for a junior thriatlon called the iron kids thriatlon, which he entered and won at the age of 13. The best stage of the thriatlon for him was the cycling part. The bicycle becomed his greates talent after winning the Amateur U.S race championship in 1991. Representing U.S in the summer olympics he finished 14th. This performance earned him his first proffesional contract with motorola. On october 2, 1996, then aged 25, Armstrong was diagnosed as having developed stage three testicular cancer. The cancer spread to his lungs, abdomen and brain. His cancer went into complete remission, and by January 1998 he was already engaged in serious training for racing. Before his cancer treatment, Armstrong had won two Tour de France stages. In 1993, he won the 8th stage and in 1995 he took 18 in honor of teammate Fabio Casartelli. Armstrong announced announced on september 9, 2008 that he would return to pro cycling.