When Michigan City Elston graduate Doug Elenz watches the Tour de France, he might cheer a little louder than most for seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.

Dr. Doug Elenz has more than a passing interest in Armstrong's career. The Austin, Texas, orthopaedic surgeon helped put Armstrong's right collarbone back together after the cyclist broke it in a March crash at the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon Race in northern Spain. Elenz put a stainless steel plate and a dozen screws in Armstrong's collarbone, which was broken in four places, during the three-hour surgery on March 25.

Elenz is optimistic Armstrong will have a strong showing at the Tour de France.

"He is a phenomenal athlete -- he has that unique gift, a lot like Michael Phelps or Michael Jordan," Elenz said. "He has a good chance to perform well. I think Lance will prove himself."

Armstrong said Elenz and the Austin Sports Medicine group did a great job of getting him back to racing form.

"Dr Elenz's office was the first stop I made when I arrived from Spain," Armstrong wrote in an e-mail to The Times. "From the initial consult to the surgery, he and his staff were tremendous. I put the rest of my season in his hands and he did a fantastic job."

An All-American and state champ

Working on top-notch athletes is nothing new for Elenz or his partners. Austin Sports Medicine deals with the University of Texas sports teams, and Elenz has worked with Longhorn swimmers. He also works with the U.S. National Swim Team.

Elenz started swimming was when he was 7. His mother and father, Betty Jo and Jerry, had a family membership to the Long Beach Country Club, and Elenz swam there and also for the LaPorte YMCA team and Sullair Piranhas.

"He and (brother) Carter just took to swimming, and Doug just got better at it," Betty Jo said. "Every day he went for lessons and he got on the Sullair team. He just really worked at it."

Elenz was a seven-time All-American swimmer at Texas after winning four state individual titles at Elston -- which merged with Rogers in 1995 to form the present-day Michigan City High School -- in 1980 and 1981.

The Long Beach, Ind., native said the hardest part of dealing with a great athlete is the post-operative care.

"These guys want to get right back on the horse, and we have to bring them back (gradually) so they do not hurt themselves by coming back too soon," Elenz said. "I had to make sure (Armstrong) didn't get an infection in his collarbone.

"Our goal is to not just repair the knee or shoulder or arm, but to get these athletes back to the level they were before they were injured."

Elenz graduated from Texas with a degree in biology and from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, now known as the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School.

"I knew I wanted to be a doctor, but then, I guess (because of) being an athlete myself, I got interested in orthopaedics," Elenz said. "I just enjoy doing what I am doing because I enjoy helping people get better from an injury."

Elenz did his residency at McGraw Medical Center of Northwestern University in Chicago and had the opportunity to learn from several doctors who worked with Chicago's pro sports teams, including Dr. Michael Schafer, the chairman of orthopaedic surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Schafer works with the Cubs and has done surgery and treated many Chicago pro athletes.

"I had the opportunity to learn from the best in the field," Elenz said. "It was great because Northwestern did work with the Bears, the Cubs and the Bulls. I got to see some of the greatest athletes. You really got an understanding about how the doctors worked with some of the greatest athletes in the world."

Schafer said he could tell right away that Elenz would not only be a top orthopaedic surgeon, but a quality individual as well.

"Doug just had it all together -- he was bright and had good communication skills," Schafer said. "I knew that he would develop into a fine surgeon. He was one of my chief residents and we only took two of the nine residents we had."

Schafer said Elenz and the other eight residents gave him a special photo upon graduating.

"They got some Bears uniforms and put them on and took a picture for me," Schafer said. "We had just got the Bears (at Northwestern) in the early '90s, and Doug, I remember he wore No. 81.

"I still have that picture they all autographed, framed in my basement."

Elenz's mom said it was a natural for him to get into orthopaedics because of his sports background. She and her husband were in Austin when Armstrong got hurt.

"I said to myself, 'I wonder if Doug is going to do the surgery?'" she said. "I was not surprised."