Armstrong lived a lot of lies and brought global attention with this documentary

By GalaTView Staff

Photo: Courtesy

The Armstrong Lie widely regarded as one of the most prominent figures in the history of sports, Armstrong had triumphed over cancer and went on to win bicycling’s greatest race, the Tour de France, a record seven consecutive times.

Charting Armstrong’s life-story (and given unprecedented access to both the Tour and the man), Gibney began filming what he initially envisioned as the ultimate comeback story – Armstrong’s return from his 2005 retirement and his attempt to win his eighth Tour. Indeed, more than just an athlete, Armstrong, through his inspiring personal narrative and charitable works, had come to embody nothing short of the possibilities of the human spirit itself. An unprecedented scandal, however, would rewrite both the Armstrong legend and Gibney’s film.

Doping accusations weave in and out of the story, with Armstrong’s personal performance-enhancing medical advisor, Michele Ferrari, introduced with a dose of tongue-in-cheek irony as the villain of the piece. It’s fascinating to learn just how sophisticated the deceptions were, with illegal blood transfusions at one point carried out in plain sight on a team bus during a Tour stage.  Armstrong was subsequently stripped of his victories and banned from all competitive sporting activities for life. Now the question is this famous cyclist deserved the punishment he received at the end of the whole doping scandal? You will have the best answer after seeing this controversial documentary.