Spilling guts in search of glory

SPORT at the highest levels is not for the faint-hearted; the demands it makes on the top performers are so extraordinary that there is no room at the top for athletes who find the mental edge rather elusive. By its very nature, on its big stage, sport does not entertain men and women who cannot constantly spill their guts in search of glory.

It is because of this the ones that are not strong-willed and single-minded can rarely aspire to the heights reached by a select few in every sport. For, talent, in terms of pure athletic ability, is just one part of the heady mix that makes for success at the top.

What is often even more important when it comes to success is the strength of mind and heart that gives the champion the edge in a battle. And, whether you agree with George Orwell in terms of the context in which he wrote what he did or not, sport, in many ways, is indeed war minus shooting.

Then again, quite often, it is not the on-field battle that is crucial; the more significant one is the one to be fought within. And sport's greatest fighters are those who win the latter first before announcing themselves as champions on the big stage.

In contemporary sport, there is no greater example of this sort of champion than Lance Armstrong, the American cyclist who won his fifth straight Tour de France last fortnight to join the immortals of his sport.

Arguably the most gruelling sporting event of all, a solitary Tour success would be a marvellous feat for some of the best riders of this era, or any, for that matter. But to win five, and in consecutive years, is simply mind-boggling.

But, then, when it comes to Armstrong himself, the achievement goes way beyond what is merely mind-boggling. For, a few years ago, the American was given, at best, a 50 per cent chance of survival after being diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs as well.

It would have taken extraordinary courage and fighting abilities to beat that dreaded disease alone and find the strength of will to continue with the business of life. But Armstrong was not content with that. Having beaten cancer, he set out to beat the best cyclists in the world, not once but five times in a row.

Modern sport has seen an array of great fighters, men and women who picked themselves off the floor, dug deep and came up with the right stuff at the right moment. Jimmy Connors could never be counted out unless the opponent had firmly secured the proverbial last nail. Even then it was advisable to sit on the coffin lid for a brief while, just to be sure.

In cricket, the Australian team is led by the greatest modern fighter the sport has seen — Steve Waugh. Time and again Steve Waugh has fought from the trenches to pull his team out of harm's way in Test matches.

But, on the bike and in the hospital bed, what Armstrong has accomplished puts him even above the great Australian as a fighter of substance.

For all that, strangely enough, the American was not a popular figure on the Tour. He refused to learn the French language and speak in French simply to please the fans. "The Tour de France is not a popularity contest. It is a bike race,'' he once said famously.

This again turned him into a sort of villain in French eyes; over the years they grudgingly respected his abilities but never really accepted him with open arms as a popular champion. He did not seem to have the charismatic qualities so admired by the French.

But, all that is again history now; for the great American has won yet another battle this year. The battle for the fan's heart. In one of the most thrilling Tours of all time, in the Centenary event, Armstrong's gritty fight with the German Jan Ullrich turned him into a hero.

Perhaps it was the fact that Armstrong, for the first time in five years, seemed a touch vulnerable, especially in the middle of the Tour, made the conversion possible. But whatever the reasons, it was clear long before the ride into Paris and on the Champs Elysees that the American was the toast of towns, so to say, across which the Tour was run.

The fans cheered him in large numbers at every Stage sign-in and all along the route there were posters supporting Armstrong in French. The jeers of 2001 had turned into cheers that would keep ringing in the American's ears for a long time to come.

And it is time too, for this column, to say three cheers to one of the greatest athletes of all time; a cancer survivor who believed he CAN.