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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Livestrong products still on store shelves
Aman Sharma / The Associated Press archives Lance Armstrong has duped the cycling community, cancer survivors and fans. (CP)
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Lance Armstrong's fall from grace may be meteoric but the clothing line he inspired will still be available in Winnipeg.
Livestrong clothing, including athletic wear, hoodies, hats and even bow ties will continue to be carried at Sport Chek and Sports Experts stores. The iconic yellow wristbands are there, too. But the parent company of the two retailers has made it abundantly clear it has no connection with the now-disgraced cyclist.
"Sport Chek and Sports Experts have no relationship with Lance Armstrong. We carry Livestrong products -- supplied to us by Nike. Our customers love the product and it is widely known that proceeds from the products support valuable research to fight cancer.
"We will continue to carry the Livestrong product as long as Nike supplies it to us and as long as our customers continue to value it. This in no way is an endorsement or rejection of Lance Armstrong, given we have no relationship with him whatsoever," said a spokesman for the Toronto-based Canadian Tire Corp.
Armstrong was stripped of his seven consecutive Tour de France titles and banned from competing for life on Monday after the International Cycling Union ratified the United States Anti-Doping Agency's penalties against him.
The 41-year-old had opted not to contest the USADA charges, which alleged he had been the ringleader of the "most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
He has also been dropped by many of his longtime sponsors, including Nike, Oakley and Anheuser-Busch.
It's difficult to come across a personal brand that has fallen so quickly and so drastically, said Barrett Peitsch, director of client services with the Fusion Group, a Winnipeg advertising and branding agency.
Armstrong had transcended sport because of his high-profile recovery from cancer and the hundreds of millions of dollars he helped raise for cancer research through Livestrong.
"It's such a drastic situation because people bought in on so many levels. Yes, he's a phenomenal athlete, that always gets you a certain level of respect and admiration. But then you add the human element, the cancer survival story. He's almost a superhuman, it was almost mythical at that point," he said.
The distinguishing factor between Armstrong and many others whose fame had risen into the stratosphere is he lied to everybody -- the cycling community, cancer survivors, the media and fans all around the globe.
"Everybody feels duped," he said, adding quickly that his comments assume Armstrong's guilt.
John Tolkamp, president of Cycling Canada, said as far as he is concerned, Armstrong is persona non grata. There's no question cycling would not have reached mainstream North America without him and that his life story is "Hollywood" material but none of that matters now.
"The elite cyclists and the people who are really involved in the sport are very disappointed. There's quite a backlash against him and other folks who doped. We're trying to eradicate them and the team directors and doctors (who covered up the doping). The riders who rode clean, they're the real heroes," he said.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 23, 2012 A2
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