Armstrong visit to Korea to raise cancer awareness

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong, the American cyclist who won the Tour de France seven straight times after surviving testicular cancer, will visit Korea in August, the Seoul Olympic Sports Promotion Foundation announced yesterday.
The 35-year-old cyclist is invited to the international cycling competition, “Tour de Korea 2007,” scheduled Sept. 1-9 across the country, the competition’s organizers said. During his visit from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2, Armstrong will meet fans and cancer patients and attend charity events. He will also headline the Armstrong Bike Festival, a cycling parade, along with about 3,000 bicycle riders.
Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer in October 1996. He overcame the cancer, which has a lower than 50 percent recovery rate, in one year through aggressive chemotherapy.
The cancer had metastasized to his brain and lungs. He returned to cycling and won his first Tour de France in 1999, followed by six more.
As a symbol of hope and inspiration, he founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 1997 and invented the yellow Livestrong wristbands for fundraising. In 2004, 40 million wristbands were sold worldwide. The foundation has provided $144 million for cancer treatment research.
At schools in the United States and Canada, his autobiography, “It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life,” is used as a textbook.
Although he retired in 2005, his miraculous journey has not ended. In last year’s New York City Marathon, he raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations by finishing the course in under three hours.

By Kang In-sik JoongAng Ilbo [soejung@joongang.co.kr]