ShawneeDispatch.com

Greg LeMond is internationally known as a three-time winner of the Tour de France.

But he said because he could not come to terms with the sexual abuse he went through as a youth, with his guilt and his shame, he had never felt he was worthy of any of his awards and accomplishments.

"It took time to digest that it wasn't my fault," LeMond said. "It carried through my whole life, this shame, it was so painful."

LeMond shared his story Thursday at the Lionheart Luncheon, an event recognizing those who support Sunflower House, the Shawnee-based child abuse prevention center serving Johnson and Wyandotte counties that also serves as a safe place for children and their families to report abuse.

Cynthia Smith, Sunflower House president and CEO, explained that the Lionheart Luncheon was created "to recognize our friends whose gifts are so special they've had a lasting effect on our organization."

The recipient of the 2008 Lionheart Award was Janelle Hegarty, who began working with Sunflower House as a volunteer 15 years ago and since has served terms as chair of the organization's largest fundraiser, the Valentine Gala, and its board of directors.

"Someone once told me that if something makes you heartsick, then you have found your passion," Hegarty said. "I think we'd all agree that the stories that are told at Sunflower House make us heartsick."

Also recognized at the luncheon were Debbie Kern and Mary Bouck, who jointly received the Education Partner of the Year award for Johnson County, and Sandra Cintora, who received the award for Wyandotte County.

LeMond served as the keynote speaker for the event, sharing how childhood abuse can affect someone throughout their lives, and his new efforts to bring awareness to abuse treatment and prevention.

LeMond detailed his early childhood in California, his move to Lake Tahoe at age 7, how there he got into skiing, only buying a bike to help him stay in shape for skiing.

He talked about how he got into his first cycling race in his teens and came in second, despite using rather low-end equipment, and how he continued to enter and win race after race. In 1984, he entered the Tour de France for the first time and placed third, later going on to become the first American to win the event in 1986 and winning again in 1989 and 1990.

"I was one of those guys that looked like I had a perfect life," he said. ": Everybody looked at me as a silver spoon-fed kid - I had everything. But there's another side of me."

A friend of his father's, who would come to stay with the family on weekends, had sexually abused LeMond in his childhood. LeMond said he has blocked out the period of abuse so much that he still isn't sure how long it went on - it may have been over several months or for more than a year.

The abuse didn't start right away, LeMond said; the family friend gained his trust first.

"He was like my best friend; he was a trusted friend, like my uncle," LeMond said.

The abuse stopped after the family friend stopped visiting, just before LeMond got into cycling at age 14.

"I had locked it into the back of my mind, and cycling gave me a way to almost reinvent myself," he said. "In many ways, it saved my life."

LeMond said one of the first times he really allowed himself to think about the abuse was when he first won the Tour de France.

"I'm just sitting there thinking, 'Oh my God, I'm the first American to win the tour, and what if this guy comes up and outs me?'" he said.

But still, LeMond said he pushed the abuse down again and didn't really begin to deal with it or admit it to his family until about five years ago. As the family began to face some emotional problems LeMond's son was having, he said the trauma and shame of his abuse began to resurface, and he began to self-destruct.

It was only when he was facing divorce that LeMond began to see a therapist and finally work through how the abuse had affected him.

It took time for his parents to accept what had happened, LeMond said, and his relationship with his mother was never really healed before her death last year. Still, LeMond is proud that he was finally able to face his past.

"I would have to say the last five years is my greatest accomplishment," he said.

LeMond didn't talk about the abuse publicly until 2006, when he was testifying in the doping trial of the accused Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. In an attempt to intimidate LeMond, Landis' business manager outed LeMond's secret, which he had shared with Landis.

While he at first hesitated to be a spokesperson for those who have been sexually abused, LeMond said he felt someone had to do it to show society how great the problem is and how those who have been abused need help, in some cases to keep them from becoming abusers themselves.

This is why, he said, the money invested in Sunflower House is invaluable. LeMond toured Sunflower House the day before the luncheon and said he wished there could be several more Sunflower Houses throughout the country.

"I was so impressed yesterday to see everybody at (Sunflower House)," he said. "It would be my dream some day to have a system in place to direct people to a place like Sunflower House as an adult."