Armstrong’s cheating threatens role models

SO LANCE Armstrong has said sorry to Momma while the world watched. The pundits now argue about just how slippery Armstrong has been, and whether Oprah let him off too lightly. But certain brute facts remain. Armstrong is a liar, a cheat, a fraud, a bully, a thug and a hypocrite.

He took drugs to win prizes and he denied it for years and years. He bullied and intimidated those who blew the whistle or threatened to. He swore that it would kill him if his kids thought he was a drugs cheat. He made tens of millions of dollars out of his cheating. These are ill-gotten gains and nothing he said on Oprah makes any difference; if there were any justice, Armstrong would now be penniless as well as a global pariah.

More important than anything he said on television, though, is the lesson about sports idols as role models. Sports heroes probably influence the young more than any other celebrities except movie stars. That is another reason why they should be punished without mercy when they turn out to be cheats. Sport, at its best, is a test of courage and character as well as physical and athletic prowess. That is what gives it such a wide appeal, especially for the young.

When sport turns out to be a farce and a fraud, the damage is huge. So there can be no mercy for Lance Armstrong, no lifting of his lifetime ban, no forgiveness for his lying and bullying and cheating. Too much is at stake.

Political leaders arguably have far less influence than sports stars as role models. Nowadays many people expect politicians to lie and twist. This was not always the case. Two generations ago, politicians had a kind of respectability, at least in theory. Society has changed and citizens no longer accord their elected leaders this kind of automatic respect. That is a change for the better, no doubt. Those with power should expect to be looked at with a cold and sceptical eye.

But the politicians have brought much of the damage upon themselves. In New Zealand, politicians have behaved like thugs – the prime case is the late leader of National, Robert Muldoon – and lied repeatedly over important issues. Both National and Labour told blatant lies about the particular issue of superannuation and, more generally, about their covert conversion to neo-liberalism. The result was widespread disillusion and a revolutionary change to the electoral system.

Religious role models have, similarly, suffered a drastic decline in their power to influence. This was the inevitable result of the decline in traditional forms of Christian faith and of the mainstream churches. Our role models are now overwhelmingly secular.

So sporting stars have a power perhaps far greater than they ever have before. All the more reason, then, to be thankful for the example set by the genuinely admirable people such as Sir John Kirwan. The former All Black has helped remove the stigma of mental illness, a stigma that has blighted thousands of lives and has still not disappeared. Kirwan comes from a code where machismo and stoicism are still the ruling values. He has helped show that tolerance and understanding, an acceptance of the frailties and needs of others, are values that are even more important. John Kirwan has shown that honesty and openness are great human qualities.

John Kirwan, in other words, is everything that Lance Armstrong is not.

When sport turns out to be a farce and a fraud, the damage is huge. So there can be no mercy for Lance Armstrong, no lifting of his lifetime ban, no forgiveness for his lying and bullying and cheating.