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The Armstrong Lie (on Now C4)
FusionFury
Posts: 14,121 Forum Member
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Very fascinating..
To some he's a hero to many the man is a disgrace.
But to see inside his man is interesting.
To some he's a hero to many the man is a disgrace.
But to see inside his man is interesting.
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I reckon athletics is as riddled as it ever was.
Its far from the only sport with a lot of hypocrites but its certainly one of the worst.
When does it get on to the staged moon landings
Ofcourse. Its either that or we're meant to believe that despite not taking drugs they consistently get faster, stronger and run further than the people we know did take drugs and in some cases sprinters found guilty of doping were later faster when they were meant to be clean.
Absoloutely, a genuine one too.
He has all the traits
Narcissistic
Lack of empathy/remorse
Desire to control
Self delusion
You could say that about a lot of athletes.
You could say that about the majority of people in the public eye. How they try and portray themselves is not necessarily a representation of what they are actually like. Having said that Armstrong is a major d for what he did to people. I don't think that makes him a psychopath though... just a bad person ultimately.
What a nasty bastard he is.
Watched last night on BBC4 and nearly 3 hours tonight. Have also read Tyler Hamilton's book.
People wanted to believe the story but the reality was completely different. Many STILL want to believe it. Many will not like to admit they've been duped; even the film maker admitted to this.
His real danger is he is so good at the lying. You listen to him and he has a very clever way of positioning absolutely everything in his favour whether it's what he's done or what others have done.
As for the ethics of cycling, read William Fotheringham's book about Tom Simpson where what they were getting up to in the 50's and 60's before WADA etc was commonplace.
Tonight's film skipped over that as if they went straight from alcohol taken from bars on route to EPO in the mid 90's. That part was a bit shallow to say the least.
But just because Tommy S was alleged to be on the juice with all the others, it still doesn't absolve Armstrong.
We all want to believe that the current lot are all clean including our idols but someone in that Peleton tomorrow will be up to no good, one step ahead of the testers.
But having watched it all and said the above, why did he cross the line? For the same reasons that all the others have? Hamilton's book goes into how they all made the decision that once into the elite pro ranks, the only way to stay there, so they rationalised it, was to dope.
So true. A lot of the gullible public treat cycling as a scapegoat but athletics and tennis are likely to be just as bad. The drug testing in tennis is a joke. Before anyone makes the "Tennis is a skill sport so doesn't benefit from doping" argument, let me just say that that is nonsense. There isn't a sport that exists that doesn't benefit from doping (even golf) because most of the positives of doping comes from the drugs allowing you to train longer and harder - even when you're doing gym work. Tyler Hamilton explains about this in his book, The Secret Race which is well worth a read.
It's 'cause of all this that I don't really take pro sport that seriously anymore and I certainly don't trust that the image top athletes present is who they really are.
Maybe you're right, I read the Jon Ronson book recently (not saying that makes me an expert or anything
Quite the potty mouth too.
He's a self confessed drugs cheat who tried to smear many innocent people to cover it up, he built up a fortune of $100million that should've gone to 'clean' riders and he repeatedly looked into a camera lens and lied his teeth off. How do you turn that into a positive without visiting the realms of fantasy?
I don't think there has been a greater fall from grace in the history of sport.
Armstrong was a hero for so many years to a lot of people but now must be one of the most disliked.
I feel sorry for those racing against him (who were clean..) really.
They never got a chance to achieve such heights thanks to this cheat.
Rilly....?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ is why.
Very twisted character. I think Sport is riddled with doping but not a clue how you would eradicate it. Tennis is my passion but if any of the top ten had doped it would destroy my enjoyment of the game.
The real issue was how the sport and Armstrong decided to handle things when the climate changed. Instead of everyone holding their hands up and agreeing to a general amnesty so that there could be a new approach, Armstrong and his supporters lied and lied and lied, ruining other people's lives and reputations in the process.
I completely agree. Since the Festina affair I tended to assume most of the cyclists were using drugs but Armstrong's attitude, lies, arrogance and treatment of those who questioned him was abhorrent and set him apart from the others.
Armstrongs arrogance knows no bounds at all. It's nothing about 'wanting to win' or 'being the best' at all.....it's all about money. And not just Armstrong either. All his sponsors benefited not to mention a cycle manufacturing industry which went from a few million into a multi billion dollar empire.
The lengths he (and others) went to was staggering....even transfusing blood!
His ability to blatantly lie plus convince people to believe in him was worrying to say the least. And to think, his conceit and arrogance in wanting a last crack at the Tour de France proved his total end.