Lance Armstrong

Bicycle Racer

Lance Armstrong won the prestigious Tour de France an unprecedented seven straight times, from 1999-2005. Armstrong's string broke the previous Tour de France record of five victories, held by Miguel Indurain (1991-95) and three others. Armstrong is equally famous for surviving cancer. He was a top amateur cyclist until after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, when he began a successful pro career. In 1996 Armstrong discovered that he had testicular cancer, which had spread to his brain and lungs. After surgery and heavy chemotherapy, Armstrong returned to cycling in 1997. Two years later he won his first Tour de France, as the lead rider of the U.S. Postal Service team, and then repeated the victory the next five years in a row. In 2005 he announced that he would retire from competitive racing after the Tour de France, then won the Tour for a seventh and final time. Armstrong is the author of the memoirs It's Not About the Bike (2000) and Every Second Counts (2003).

Extra credit: In his final season, Armstrong's racing team was sponsored by the Discovery Channel rather than the U.S. Postal Service... He has his own organization for cancer survivors, the Lance Armstrong Foundation... Armstrong is the second American to win the Tour de France: the first was Greg LeMond (1986 and 1989-90)... Five-time Tour de France winners: Jacques Anquetil of France (1957, 1961-64), Eddie Merckx of Belgium (1969-72, 1974), Bernard Hinault of France (1978-79, 1981-82, 1985) and Miguel Indurain of Spain (1991-95)... Armstrong and the former Kristin Richard were married in 1998. They have three children: Luke (b. 1999) and twins Isabelle and Grace (b. 2001). The couple separated early in 2003 and were divorced that December... The same year, Armstrong began dating singer Sheryl Crow; they became engaged in 2005 but ended the engagement in 2006... Armstrong is 5'11" tall, according to a 2006 article in the Austin American-Statesman.

Other high-speed athletes: Roger Bannister, Wilma Rudolph and Michael Schumacher.