‘The Armstrong Lie’
The documentary “The Armstrong Lie” is extremely interesting and sheds light on Lance Armstrong’s story. The way it started with Armstrong confessing to taking performance-enhancing drugs to Oprah Winfrey set the stage for the movie to build up to that point. The documentary showed Armstrong’s journey through fighting cancer and starting to dope during races. It was interesting to see how many people knew and suspected Armstrong was taking drugs, but did not say anything. It was shocking that he got away with his lie for so long, but the documentary showed how this was possible as he doped in the most efficient way and was backed by the public who wanted to believe he was innocent.
Sports journalists and the media generally portrayed Armstrong’s story in a way that did not take into consideration the fact that he was suspected of taking performance-enhancing drugs. He was depicted as an amazing athlete that overcame cancer and won the Tour de France seven times. The media, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and sponsors such as Nike, emphasized that he donated tons of money to cancer research hospitals and inspired people around the world to push through and keep fighting. All of this stemmed from a huge lie that the media, the UCI, and sponsors did not show. One of the reporters in the documentary explained that anyone could have caught Armstrong’s lie, yet they never seemed to expose him or write about it in the media.
I believe most media members went along with the Armstrong lie for a few reasons. The first being that they were potentially afraid of what Armstrong would say back to them if they chose not to go with the lie. For example, Armstrong snapped at a journalist at a press conference and embarrassed him because he wrote that Armstrong was taking performance-enhancing drugs. Another reason media members may have gone with the lie is that they believed it was for a good cause as Armstrong had cancer and was still able to win the Tour de France after. He was a beacon of hope for people and many looked up to him. Additionally, the media did not have concrete proof that Armstrong was doping as almost all his drug tests came back negative. Many conditions allowed for the media to go along with the lie as sponsors such as Nike started a live strong movement in which Armstrong was the face. Additionally, the UCI did not do anything about the allegations against Armstrong as there were suspicions about him doping. The public also praised Armstrong as he was looked at as an innocent man who beat cancer and provided hope to others.
Armstrong made a name for himself before coming clean to Oprah. He portrayed himself as very innocent and charitable which made people love him. This made it easier for him to get away with lying. People trusted him and did not want to believe he was doing something wrong because they admired him. What he had to say trumped the overwhelming body of evidence presented by others because of the relationships he built with the public and various sponsors who were all supporting and rooting for him. He was able to back himself up and was very persuasive and adamant that he did nothing wrong. When it came to people testifying against Armstrong, such as Betsy Andreu who was his former teammate’s wife, he found a way to make his opponents look bad. For example, Armstrong said Andreu could not remember anything about the room or the doctor but still said that he admitted to doing drugs. This made Andreu look unreliable which allowed more people to trust what Armstrong was saying.
“The Armstrong Lie” shows why it was so easy for Armstrong to get away with his lie for so long as he had sponsors, the media, the public, and the UCI backing him up and supporting him for so long.
