Michael Specter on Lance Armstrong, an American myth: “Everyone may lie, but here is what everyone doesn’t do…” http://nyr.kr/VZ4MfE

Photograph by George Burns/Oprah Winfrey Network/Getty.

(Source: newyorker.com)

With any luck, this will be the last time I write about Lance Armstrong. But first, I want an apology. And I deserve one. Some readers will have followed my evolution fromgullible fanboytosurprised readertoangry man.

Now, I am simply amazed…

Lance Armstrong stood for something. He was a man who, despite the hatred, the envy, and the odds, would never quit, would never concede. He was the great American—a man of principle who also won. Now, I am afraid, he is nothing.

Michael Specter on why he doesn’t feel sorry for Lance Armstrong, after Armstrong announced his decision not to fight charges of doping: http://nyr.kr/OesH7K

Photograph by Martin Schoeller.

From Rwanda to London, with a Bicycle: Ten years ago, when Adrien Niyonshuti was fifteen,

Ten years ago, when he was fifteen, he entered a single-speed bike race in his hometown of Rwamagana, and won. His trophy was a radio, but his real prize was the discovery of an all-consuming passion for cycling, and five years ago, when the American cyclist Jock Boyer came to Rwanda to train a bike team, Adrien was in the first draft. … Yesterday he flew from Switzerland, where he had been training, to London, where he will carry the Rwandan flag into the Olympic stadium at tonight’s opening ceremony.

Click-through for more from Philip Gourevtich on Niyonshuti: http://nyr.kr/N1Igf5

Photograph by Dominic Nahr/Magnum.

Cartoon of the night. For more from this week’s issue: http://nyr.kr/MP0oZN

Jon Michaud writes about reconsidering Lance Armstrong after new doping allegations were reported this week: http://nyr.kr/OIVAXR