Though over a year in the making, last week the President of the United States signed a bill awarding Greg LeMond the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian decoration. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal (opens in new tab), LeMond expressed disbelief that he would be awarded such an honor.

"'Why me? ' I kept saying. ' I don't know what to say." [Starting with George Washington, the Wright Brothers, Jonas Salk, Rosa Parks, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson and NFL safety Stephen Michael Gleason, sports luminaries to name a few.

The three-time Tour de France winner, however, was not nominated solely on the merits of his cycling career. The bill's sponsor, California Congressman Mike Thompson, was motivated to go through the lengthy process of convincing Congress to pass a bill to award LeMond a medal after reading Daniel de Vizet's 2018 book, Comeback.

Thompson read the story of LeMond's meteoric rise to become the first American to win the Tour de France and the world champion of elite men's road racing, and was moved by LeMond's recovery from being shot in the back while hunting in 1987 and nearly bleeding to death.

LeMond was nominated for his remarks as a "champion of a healthy sport." Lemond was one of the first to publicly question Lance Armstrong's performance after his cancer battle, which resulted in the loss of his business relationship with Trek. He also urged Floyd Landis, who tested positive for testosterone, to tell the truth and testify for the USADA side.

During the trial, Lemond privately admitted to having been sexually abused as a child as a means of convincing Landis of the dangers of keeping secrets. Landis' lawyers attempted to intimidate LeMond with this information, but instead LeMond bravely disclosed this in court and became a founding member of 1in6 (open in new tab), a nonprofit organization that assists male victims of childhood sexual abuse.

This work was part of the basis for Thompson's bill, passed by the Senate in November and signed by President Trump on December 4.

"I always think of this as being for the people who save lives and invent new cures for diseases," Lemond said. 'It's a real honor, but at the same time I don't really feel good about getting the award. I always feel like there is someone else who deserves it."

"When I started racing, I never thought I would get an award. I just enjoyed it. I mean, I was pretty good, and it was a whole new world for me.

"But when I saw the list of medal winners, I thought, 'I'm in really, really good company.'"