When Lance Armstrong arrived upon the world of professional cycling his story appeared to be written by Disney Studios. After all who could not love the story of an American, a Texan no less, who conquered the largely European world of cycling. For Armstrong and for his sports marketing team, his cycling prowess might have been the least interesting part of his story.

After all this was a guy with Hollywood looks, a family and he was a cancer survivor. Surviving cancer turned Armstrong into something more than an athlete. He was a folk hero and the type of human interest story that could carry a segment on Oprah and get picked up by the mainstream media. Armstrong evolved into a household name after the media and Nike grabbed onto his story. He even helped spawn the American fad of wearing a rubber band bracelet to raise awareness for a cause. While Armstrong’s cause seemed noble, fighting cancer, the folk hero began to get some backlash as his media profile began to reap him enormous endorsement deals and other benefits.

There was Armstrong playing his heroic self in the 2006 movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. There he was dating a slew of celebrities including Sheryl Crow — so much for the devoted family man angle to his story. But Armstrong’s eventual fall from untouchable icon to center of controversy did not occur until the ugly words that brought down so many other athletes became attached to his name.

Performance enhancing drugs seemed to be almost as prevalent in the world of professional cycling as in body building. Racer after racer got caught. How could Armstrong come back from cancer stronger than ever and beat out every other cyclist in the world. Could his training techniques really be so superior to every other competitor? Armstrong remains defiant, but the noose seems to be closing around his neck. The federal government is after baseball stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens as well, which means that if nothing else Armstrong got the American government to take cycling seriously.