Lance Edward Gunderson, the son of The Dallas Morning News route manager Eddie Charles Gunderson (died 2012) and secretary Linda Gayle (née Mooneyham), was born on September 18, 1971, at Methodist Hospital in Richardson, Texas.
He is of Norwegian, Canadian, and Dutch ancestry. His middle name is Lance Rentzel, a wide receiver with the Dallas Cowboys. When Lance was two years old, his parents got a divorce. The following year, his mother wed wholesale dealer Terry Keith Armstrong, who that same year also adopted Lance.
Armstrong began his athletic career as a swimmer at the City of Plano Swim Club when he was 12 years old. He placed fourth in the Texas state 1,500-meter freestyle competition. After seeing a sign for the Iron Kids Triathlon, a junior triathlon that he won at age 13, he stopped competing in swimming-only races.
In the 19-and-under division of the 1987–1988 Tri-Fed/Texas (Tri-Fed was the previous name of USA Triathlon), Armstrong was ranked first; Chann McRae, who later joined the US Postal Service cycling team and won the 2002 USPRO national championship, finished in second.
Armstrong scored more points overall in 1987 as an amateur than five professionals who finished higher in the rankings. Lance Armstrong started competing professionally as a triathlete at the age of 16, and at the ages of 18 and 19, he won the national sprint-course triathlon championships in 1989 and 1990.
How did Lance Armstrong get cancer? The cause of his testicular cancer explained
Lance Armstrong acknowledges that testicular cancer may have been brought on by doping. The movie will only be broadcast in the USA on the sports network ESPN, but subscribers to the network will be able to watch it if they are Americans traveling overseas.
