- published: 23 Jan 2011
- views: 83003
Gregory James "Greg" LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Road Race World Championship twice (1983 and 1989) and the Tour de France three times (1986, 1989 and 1990). He is also an entrepreneur and anti-doping advocate. LeMond was born in Lakewood, California, and raised in ranch country on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, near Reno. He is married and has three children with his wife Kathy, with whom he supports a variety of charitable causes and organizations.
In 1986, LeMond became the first non-European professional cyclist to win the Tour de France, and he remains the only official winner from the United States. LeMond was accidentally shot with multiple pellets while hunting in 1987 and missed the next two Tours. He returned to the 1989 Tour, completing an improbable comeback by winning in dramatic fashion on the race's final stage. He successfully defended his title the following year, claiming his third and final Tour victory in 1990, which made LeMond one of only seven riders who have won three or more Tours. He retired from competition in December 1994. He was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1996.
Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories. From September 2011 to May 2013, he also served as host of his own eponymous syndicated daytime talk show, Anderson Live.
Cooper was born in New York City, the younger son of the writer Wyatt Emory Cooper and the artist, designer, writer, and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. His maternal grandparents were millionaire equestrian Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and socialite Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and his maternal great-great-great-grandfather was Cornelius Vanderbilt of the prominent Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune. He is also a descendant, through his mother, of Civil War brevet Major General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, who was with General William T. Sherman on his march through Georgia. Through his "Vanderbilt" line, he is a second cousin, once removed, of screenwriter James Vanderbilt.
Lance Edward Armstrong (born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He is the 1993 Elite Men's Road Race World Champion, and he had won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of his Tour de France victories in 2012 after a protracted doping scandal.
At age 16, Armstrong began competing as a triathlete and was a national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990. In 1992, Armstrong began his career as a professional cyclist with the Motorola team. He had notable success between 1993 and 1996, including the World Championship in 1993, Clásica de San Sebastián in 95, Tour DuPont in 95 and 96, and a handful of stage victories in Europe, including stage 18 of the 1995 Tour de France. In 1996, he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal metastatic testicular cancer. After his recovery, he founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation (now the Livestrong Foundation) to assist other cancer survivors.
By January 1998, Armstrong had renewed serious cycling training, having signed a new racing contract with US Postal. He was a member of the US Postal/Discovery team between 1998 and 2005, in which he won his Tour de France titles, as well as a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics. In July 2005, Armstrong retired from racing at the end of the 2005 Tour de France, but returned to competitive cycling with the Astana team in January 2009, finishing third in the 2009 Tour de France later that year. Between 2010 and 2011, he raced with the UCI ProTeam he helped found, Team Radio Shack. He retired for a second time in 2011.