Lance Armstrong, wife to divorce

AP | 9/04/03

[kattracks]

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Five-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and his wife have separated and will divorce.

Armstrong and his wife, Kristin, separated two weeks ago, soon after moving back to Austin from Girona, Spain. The couple is currently working on reaching a divorce settlement, while maintaining separate homes in Austin.

"The craziest thing is, we're closer now and better friends than ever before," Lance Armstrong said the Austin American-Statesman in Thursday's editions. "We're truly committed to maintaining a good relationship, but not a marriage."

Lance Armstrong overcame cancer on his way to five Tour wins. When he won his fifth straight Tour in July he tied the record held by Spain's Miguel Indurain.

"They tried, over the whole summer period, to reconcile," Jogi Muller, a spokesman for Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team, told The Associated Press. "But somehow, now in the month after the Tour, it just didn't work out. They tried probably for the children, for themselves."

Muller said that the couple had originally planned to stay in Europe through mid-September, but decided to return home early.

The couple, who have been married for five years and have three children, announced in February that they had been separated for a month. They later reconciled.

[glory]

Amen to that. My husband and I are at the 7-8 year mark in our marriage with two children 5 and 3 and I think we are in that adjustment period since some days I feel like throwing in the towel and others I don't know what I'd do without my husband. We are both hanging in there, but there are growing pains as we face finding out what kind of developmental problem our 3 yr old son has.

[Between the Lines]

I sum it up this way: Lance was cycling around all day and his wife couldn't keep up.

Instead of his wife not being able to keep up, a more probable scenario would be that Lance couldn’t get it up. I realize that this sounds crude and insensitive, but Armstrong did have testicular cancer and although we know he has been cured, we do not know what type of treatment was used or how extreme this treatment may have been. Couple that with an increased rate of erectile dysfunction among bicyclists that practice extreme training (Erectile Dysfunction and Bicycling)and this does seem probable. It also goes a long way in explaining his remarks, "We're closer now and better friends than ever before," and, ""We're truly committed to maintaining a good relationship, but not a marriage" since some marital obligations could no longer be preformed.

[GreatOne]

As someone who does divorces, I am always amazed at how I can get a couple to jointly come into my office and act like the best of friends, having all of their issues resolved, even regarding custody. I always ask them if they have tried counseling, but it is one of those "fallen out of love" b.s. stories. But the Armstrong's problems are probably something that has developed and festered for a period of years. For every day/month/year you let a problem fester and corrupt a marriage, it takes that long to work things out. A lot of people just don't want to put in the effort.

My wife's family dragged me to a Gothard Institute seminar a few years ago, pre-marriage. I kind of thought it was a joke, but one thing I took from it and still do every day is this: Every day, look into the mirror and say, "I love my wife" (or husband, as it may be). Do that when you're mad, do it after sex, do it when you come home from work. I think that it really works, and would advise it to all.

[Diddle E. Squat]

"Will and Race"?

[Between the Lines]

For every day/month/year you let a problem fester and corrupt a marriage, it takes that long to work things out. A lot of people just don't want to put in the effort.

Every day, look into the mirror and say, "I love my wife" (or husband, as it may be). Do that when you're mad, do it after sex, do it when you come home from work. I think that it really works, and would advise it to all.

Thanks for posting this.

[utahagen]

I wish it were bizarre, but I hear this from people I know all the time: "We're really good friends; we just don't want to be married anymore." People have lost all sense of the obligation to society to remain married. When people get divorced, it sets a bad example for young people. (Perhaps I sound like an old fogey, but I'm actually only in my thirties.)

[jern]

I just like how everyone on this thread is a marriage expert, and has such great knowledge of the Armstrong's relationship.

[Brian Allen]

<< ...but fail to put the same effort & drive into saving his marriage.....! >>

Mr Armstrong is not a quitter.

He tried -- she quit!?

Dumb broad has no concept of the value of a covenant before God. Pretty typical of modern American wymyn.

[Next?]

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Ahh, makes sense to me now. Definitely a driven man.

[T. Jefferson]

...but fail to put the same effort & drive into saving his marriage

It's a two way street. I wonder how much weight she gained.

[Hat-Trick]

...so Lance feels justified in seeing "organized religion" as the haven for hypocrites.

He's right, organized religion is a haven for hypocrites AND modern-day pharisees. That's why I wish his faith was in Christ, Who would never fail him.

[woofie]

I just like how everyone on this thread is a marriage expert, and has such great knowledge of the Armstrong's relationship.

the others are not experts like I am ....I own a bicycle and Im married too plus Ive been divorced

[sauropod]

Agree.

[freebilly]

The problem is Lance doesn't distinguish between a relationship with Christ and "organized religion" (his words, not mine). The more pity to him.

[freebilly]

I just like how everyone on this thread is a marriage expert, and has such great knowledge of the Armstrong's relationship.

He's written an autobiography. His wife has posted comments about their marriage on-line. If you're going to live your life publicly, then people will assess you by your very public utterances.

[wardaddy]

I'm going to go so far out on a limb that I'm carrying a parachute and proclaim that from what I have seen in my life:

A majority of super successful men (and almost as many women) have a difficult time maintaining fidelity or simply sticking to a long term marriage.

Very competitive men often pursue women with the same zeal or they simply become bored with the status quo or "outgrow" their partner in accomplishments or experience.

I view the latter as the fault of the man. Even a very accomplished man who has a wife who has restricted her own endeavors to support him is bound by honour and respect and responsibility to remain loyal to his woman and his family and not to allow himself to grow distant due to the nature of his success.

The cheating stuff needs no explanation.

A fairly wealthy fellow who was a rake himself once told me that my dad and a car dealer he knew in Vicksburg were the only "successful" men he knew who did not chase women. I thought he was nuts at the time, I was young and idealistic. Now, I know, it's fairly true.

As for the culpability of his wife....I don't know.

It is a damn shame with all their money and comfort that they could not work something out for their 3 children. Once you have children, it's not about you anymore and financial problems are a leading cause of divorce and they obviously don't have that.

Children never ever get over it and it gets passed on.

[GretchenEE]

Armstrong's wife ... Not 2 months ago, she posted publicly that she was committed to "being a full time wife and mom - that is job one for me." So much for being a full time wife, Kristen.

We do not know how committed Lance really was to making things right between him and Kristin. It's not possible to be a full-time wife to a half-time husband, and even if Lance did physically stop taking his business and heart outside the marriage, he may not have been committed to a full-time marriage. This doesn't sound like that last object was his goal, when his current conclusion is, "We're truly committed to maintaining a good relationship, but not a marriage."

I've heard from people who've suffered the devastation of adultery and then tried to rebuild their marriage. Once that trust is broken, it takes an enormous amount of work (and length of time) for the couple to baby-step their way back to a decent, loving, healthy relationship. The root reasons why the person broke marriage vows has to be found and corrected. A marriage can't be rebuilt by just showing up for dinner and sleeping in the same bed.

[Hatteras]

"His wife is the one that got him off his butt and back on his bike after cancer..."

That's because everytime he went home, she was there to bitch and moan about the house not being clean, the beds don't make themselves, the laundry is piling up... and LOOK at this living room! The DUST on the TV could gag a maggot!!!...

Yeah, I'd have gone back to training too!

[gnarledmaw]

You cut and pasted that right out of my noggin!