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Hero Profile: Lance Armstrong

Here is a profile of cyclist Lance Armstrong, with comments and my rating on five characteristics of a sporting hero.

		rating
skill	Lance has performed well in his sport over a long period and won the Tour de France a unprecedented seven times (between 1999-2005). To do so requires exceptional skill and physical attributes, but also a very strong team.	8
character	He comes across as arrogant to many people. He has been strongly accused of drug use, with some evidence, which has of course been denied (not always convincingly).	4
family	He has not had a good record with relationships. His biological father moved out when he was a baby. When he was three years old, his mother remarried a man named Terry Armstrong. His mother has married and divorced three times. He was married to Kristin Richard, and they have three children. After Lance and Kristin divorced, Lance had a short engagement with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow. His current relationship is with Anna Hansen, with whom he has a son born in June 2009.	3
charity work	In 1997, Armstrong founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which supports people affected by cancer.	10
popular culture	Despite dominating his chosen sport, cycling is not a mainstream sport in his home country, so has not reached the potential he would have if he played a major sport in the US. Making a successful comeback after beating cancer has aligned him with a big proportion of society.	6
hero rating	Despite allegations of drug taking, he is a hero to many cancer sufferers and others who have come back from adversity	62%