Well, it appears that there is another athlete that wants to make a comeback!  First it was Brett Favre, and now another athlete that said he was going to retire may come back to his sport.  It was reported that seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong may return to compete at the 2009 Tour de France. Cycling has been battling an ongoing crisis within their sport with having athletes like Floyd Landis test positive for testostrone and others failing drug tests.
Wow, it is hard to know where to start.  First, I had mentioned this when I wrote my post about Brett Favre returning to football– it is understandable that there are some athletes that have trouble letting go of their athletic past and stepping away from the sport.  But the real issue is on how this is perceived by the athletic community, media, and fans of these athletes.  How do we know for sure if these athletes are retiring for real, or they are just “taking a break” from their sport.

It also raises the issue on why Armstrong is deciding to come back.  Is this a way to present a positve image and reputation for the sport of cycling?  Or is it more about bringing Armstrong back because he loves the sport of cycling and wants to compete again.  From looking at this situation, there seems to be a little bit of both.  Both parties can gain a lot, but also are risking a lot.  Like Favre, Armstrong left on a very high note– he retired right after he won his seventh Tour de France title.  It will be interesting to see how people may react to it– some may be overjoyed, and there might be others that are confused.  We’ll have to see what happens next in this case.

Hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen 🙂