Legendary U.S. cyclist and three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond received his long-awaited Congressional Gold Medal in the Capitol Building on July 9, following delays caused by COVID-19 that had paused the ceremony in 2020.
“It’s a pretty mind-blowing day for me,” said LeMond hours after receiving his medal in the Capitol. “It was a beautiful reception, kind of overwhelmed by it. This is really the icing on the cake of my career.”
The medal, which only has 190 recipients and few sports figures, requires a super majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate before presidential approval, which makes the medal official.
California State Representative Mike Thompson introduced the bill to the House with bipartisan co-sponsorship with former Georgia State Representative Tom Graves. They stood alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson to present LeMond with the highest civilian honor.
“I want everybody to know what a great athlete and world champion Greg is, and how important it is that with those accolades come responsibilities, and I think he showcases that well with all the work that he and Kathy [LeMond] do in the community,” said Thompson.
LeMond had a historic come-up as a cyclist, winning 11 straight races to begin his career and winning the road race at the 1979 Junior World Championships. He won his first Tour de France in 1986 at age 25, but afterward, LeMond faced overwhelming adversity. While recovering from a wrist injury sustained during the 1987 season, a relative accidentally shot LeMond with a shotgun in a hunting accident, leaving him severely wounded. He has around 45 shotgun pellets still remaining in his body.
Despite the near-fatal accident, LeMond made a full recovery and authored one of the greatest comebacks in American sports history, returning to cycling’s top level in 1989. While intending to retire from professional cycling at the end of the year, he shocked the world by winning his second Tour de France.
“The race is never over till the finish line. And in a way, that's been a metaphor for me,” Lemond said. “Two years of going from the best to the worst was not easy, and I'm talking really bad, but that's what made the second victory really great. I mean, honestly, there's nothing better than going from really low to really high.”
Down 50 seconds in the final leg to Frenchman Laurent Fignon, he won the Tour de France by eight seconds, the shortest margin of victory in the men’s general classification to date. He also won the Tour de France the following year.
Thompson and LeMond met after the cyclist won the Coors Classic in 1985, shortly after becoming Thompson’s cycling hero. The California congressman has served as a member of the Congressional Bike Caucus since joining Congress in 1999, now serving as a co-chair.
While researching anti-doping legislation that Thompson reauthorized in Congress – an area of cycling where LeMond has been outspoken throughout his career– Thompson came across LeMond’s story in the book "The Comeback" in a bike shop. Thompson wanted to honor the cyclist and raise awareness surrounding LeMond’s achievements both on and off a bicycle.
Contacting LeMond before introducing the bill to Congress was a challenge in itself. When Thompson attempted to speak to the American cyclist in 2018, he was skeptical.
“The poor guy tried to get a hold of me for months, and I thought it was just a joke,” LeMond said laughingly.
Receiving bipartisan co-sponsorship and support in both the House and Senate, both legislative branches approved the bill to arrive on President Trump’s desk, which he signed on Dec. 4, 2020.
Previously, the Congressional Gold Medal has been awarded to sports figures such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Billie Jean King, Jackie Robinson and others. LeMond is thrilled to be in the same category, but still in shock to be among names he grew up idolizing, like one of his heroes, Muhammad Ali.
He hopes to be remembered as an athlete who “stood for something” like his hero Ali. Throughout the 2000s, LeMond was outspoken against doping in cycling and clashed publicly with infamous American cyclist Lance Armstrong over the issue. Armstrong maintained his innocence until admitting to cheating in 2013.
After both Armstrong and U.S. cyclist Floyd Landis were stripped of their Tour de France titles, LeMond remains the only American to have won the hardest road race in one of the most difficult sports worldwide.
LeMond yearned to rid corruption in the sport, calling the riders “compliant victims” who were not given much choice in hopes of staying competitive. LeMond believes that motors were used during periods of the tour to get bike wheels to unprecedented revolutions per minute, known as “motor doping.”
Now, LeMond believes the sport is at a peak level of competitiveness and sportsmanship.
“I'm really excited about cycling right now. There are some great riders and there's a feeling of sportsmanship today, an openness that hasn't been in cycling since the 80s,” LeMond said.
Both Congressman Thompson and LeMond are excited about the state of cycling in the U.S., both professionally and recreationally. Americans have had recent success in road cycling on an international level; most recently, Kristen Faulkner won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women’s road race. Recreationally, both are satisfied with how the e-bike allows senior riders to keep on pedaling.
“The bike is the cure for so many things, and we need to do everything we can to expose young people to it show them incredibly brilliant folks such as Greg to be role models and get more people on bikes,” said Thompson.