<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" You live, you fight, you go on. Believe the people you will, or don&amp;#039;t, but believe that Lance Armstrong&amp;#039;s is and will remain one of the great American comeback stories of our time. The downfall, well, sometimes you can&amp;#039;t blame a man for hearing things like these things these people said about him \u2014 to be made a witch in spandex, a survivor made a liar \u2014 and just say it: I give up. A sampling of vitriol: &amp;quot;So many people protect him it&amp;#039;s just sickening.... The part that pisses me off about the whole thing, even if we were close right now, is how many people he&amp;#039;s given false hope to. I think that is the most disgusting thing ever.&amp;quot; \u2014Stephanie McIlvain, 2004 &amp;quot;The hypocrisy seems pathological among the stars. And yet we desperately want to believe Armstrong is immune to dishonesty in the same way everyone wanted to grant McGwire a pass in 1998.&amp;quot; \u2014Selena Roberts, The New York Times, 2005 &amp;quot;Armstrong lives as he rides \u2014 surrounded by a cocoon of aides and helpers, his gimlet eyes focused on victory.... The self-described atheist has become a deity... but the inquiry&amp;#039;s findings may cause the Armstrong faithful to ask, Was the miracle a mirage?&amp;quot; \u2014Selena Roberts and David Epstein, Sports Illustrated, 2011 &amp;quot;Yeah, like we all did \u2014 like I did many, many times.... If I could&amp;#039;ve pressed the button, if I could&amp;#039;ve deleted memory, you know, from when I was born up till the present moment, I probably would&amp;#039;ve pressed that button.&amp;quot; \u2014Tyler Hamilton, 60 Minutes, 2011 &amp;quot;Lance Armstrong fought everything. Every slight, every insinuation, every challenge to his authority by a teammate or rival. That he has given up the fight to clear himself of doping charges is more stunning than anything he did on a bicycle, most of which now will be wiped from the record books.&amp;quot; \u2014Philip Hersh, Chicago Tribune &amp;quot;The ultracompetitive Armstrong has still done something virtually unthinkable for him: He quit before a fight is over.&amp;quot; \u2014The Seattle Times &amp;quot;By deciding he would no longer fight the allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs, Armstrong isn&amp;#039;t technically admitting guilt. But he is letting the USADA do what it believes it has the power to do, based on its belief that he cheated.&amp;quot; \u2014Darren Rovell, ESPN &amp;quot;No way if there&amp;#039;s even a hint of hope does Lance Armstrong let this happen to his name. He was always too proud, too defiant, too stubborn to give up. He beat cancer. He beat the federal government. He beat everything that came his way. He didn&amp;#039;t relent. If there was a fight to still fight, he would have fought it. Now we&amp;#039;re burned by another fraud masquerading as a hero.&amp;quot; \u2014Les Carpenter, Yahoo! Sports &amp;quot;Armstrong may go on forever, a different kind of celebrity now. And will likely have a longer career as a victim than he did on his bike, not trying to outrace the field this time. Just the worldwide lie.&amp;quot; \u2014Mike Lupica, New York Daily News &amp;quot;Armstrong gets to exit tarnished, but unbowed. For weary observers, though, it does leave the lasting, truly revolting impression that the French were right all along.&amp;quot; \u2014Brad Wieners, Bloomberg Businessweek "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/sports/a15497/lance-armstrong-quotes-12009260/>