The 'Band of Gold' title is a bit of hyperbole, because what we're really talking about here is a yellow elastic bracelet with the words 'LIVESTRONG' etched into the rubber.

On September 25th, Nancy and I were guests at a Calgary banquet featuring Lance Armstrong, his mother and a number of key components of the US Postal Team. Our napkin rings were the 'LIVESTRONG' bracelets, which have become the fundraising phenomenon and all-purpose fashion accessory of 2004.

Steve King, Chris Carmichael, Martin, George Hincapie, Johan Bruyneel

Lori-Ann Muenzer & Martin Lori-Ann Muenzer :: winner of the gold medal in the women's sprint cycling in Athens El Guerrouj I first became aware of the ubiquitous bracelets watching the 2004 Olympics on TV. I watched an unheralded Russian leap through the tape to win the 800 meters and had two thoughts, "How come I've never heard of Yuri Borzakovskiy?" and "What's that yellow band on his wrist?" I let the thought go and settled back to see if the great El Guerrouj of Morocco would get a gold in the 5000 meters to add to the one he had already from the 1500 meters. It was an epic race, El Guerrouj would not be denied and as he raised his arms in victory I saw the same yellow band on his left wrist. I was puzzled. "Was this some sort of faceless wrist watch? Was is a heart rate monitor?" The commentators didn't reference the yellow bracelet that seemed to attach itself to winners. The mystery was solved for me when I saw a picture of 100 meter runner, Justin Gatlin, wearing the yellow bracelet. The caption noted that, like many athletes, he was sporting the Lance Armstrong 'LiveStrong' bracelet. Talking with rowing Olympian, Iain Brambell, he said that when he first arrived in Athens and saw a lot of athletes with a yellow band on their wrist he thought it maybe some sort of priority pass in the Olympic Village.

Yuri Borzakovskiy

What I was seeing was the extraordinary power of Nike, but more particularly of Lance Armstrong to market an image and raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF). All proceeds from the LAF go to cancer education, research and advocacy programs. Nike set the ball rolling by donating one million dollars and five million bracelets to be sold for one dollar each. Speaking at the banquet in Calgary, Lance envisaged box upon box of unsold bracelets after the initial interest faded.

But recently sales are approaching 20 million with no end in sight. Jay Leno flashed a little yellow recently on TV and the LiveStrong bracelet is a vital part of John Kerry's wardrobe as he too hopes to finish where Lance has in the past 6 Tour de France races.

The bracelet is the really cool accessory of 2004 and is seen on the wrists of athletes and couch potatoes, celebrities and nobodies, children and seniors, trend-conscious youth and cause driven adults, and perhaps, most importantly, on people with cancer, their families and their friends. An index of their popularity is that there are 35 pages of LiveStrong bracelets on eBay.

The yellow theme has now extended beyond bracelets and this past summer Style.com, the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the LAF teamed up for a one-of-a-kind fashion auction. Here you could purchase an Oscar de la Renta yellow dress and clutch, a yellow Louis Vuitton hat box (how did I miss that?) and a real 18 karat band of gold bracelet from Robert Lee Morris. Unfortunately, I was just too late to bid on the thigh high yellow suede banana boots donated by Manolo Blahnik.

This year I've 'Run for the Cure', spoken at cancer related conferences and wear my LiveStrong bracelet, but still have a nagging awareness that in spite of the billions of dollars that have been raised and in spite of the fact that treatment enabled Lance to almost rise from the dead to become the greatest rider in the history of the Tour de France, we are not really winning the 'war' on cancer. In the 1960's a woman's chance of getting breast cancer was about 1 in 20, it's now about 1 in 10. The origins of cancer may lie in the air we breathe, the chemicals we consume, the stress we endure, the food we eat and the way we exercise. If LiveStrong means getting regular exercise, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, laughing a lot, living with purpose and allowing yourself to see the wonders in this world, those 20 million plus bracelets will save a lot of lives.

For an article on the role of physical activity in cancer prevention go to 'Well' Summer 2002, "The Topic of Cancer".

Also see 'Cancer Case Study' by Nancy Wardle in the same issue.

The Louvre is currently having a prosthesis created for the Venus de Milo
so she can wear her bracelet in the conventional fashion.
Curators felt that the headband idea featured by Wonder Woman
was not appropriate for Venus.
They are, however, considering a Nike swoosh for Winged Victory.

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