The Armstrong Lie

I was looking forward to watching the Armstrong Lie on channel 4 last night as I have been curious to see it for a while now. Ever since the truth came out about Lance Armstrong two years ago now, I have struggled to clarify my feelings on him and the subject of doping. I remember being 23 years old and reading 'it's not about the bike' and thinking it was the most amazing and inspirational thing I had ever read. When I struggled in the gym I would think of that photo of a bald and skinny Lance drained from chemotherapy cycling away on an exercise bike, I would answer quickly with the name 'Lance Armstrong' when people asked me who my favourite sportsman was and I wore my Livestrong band with pride. Hearing that Lance cheated throughout all of his career was definitely illusion shattering, all of his books had inspired me but it all suddenly felt meaningless. The documentary was great in that it gave us an insight into the specifics of how Lance managed to get away with cheating, as that is something I have been wondering about as it conflicts so much with things mentioned in his books. Some of the tactics that they used were crazy, like removing their blood with the EPO drug in it into bags before the pre-race drugs test and then putting it back into their bodies during the race. It still felt kind of sad to me to be watching a documentary like that about Lance Armstrong but it was still incredibly interesting. I think while Lance has lost all credibility as a sportsman, I will always respect him as a cancer survivor and fundraiser. I feel a bit like the documentary has left me still wanting to know more about all of this, so I am definitely on the look out for some great books about it.