Thought the Netflix Icarus film was fantastic but it’s all getting quite serious now for Grigory.
Hopefully the witness protection programme works for him and his family
“Russian doping: Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov will testify but life under 'serious threat' “
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/42674331
At least the movie has been nominated for an Oscar...
loved the program - wasnt much comeback though from the IOC on why they decided no blanket ban on russian athletes, despite the evidence of bottle tampering and everything from the WADA commision. methinks more will come out about that in many years to come....
There's nothing to suggest the IOC is any less corrupt than Russia!
The next few months could be interesting with that hearing coinciding with the Winter Olympics.
Bans overturned
Hopefully the witness protection programme works for him and his family
His wife and family are all still in Russia and very much at risk.
Its a great documentary.
In some ways i was wishing the Grigory story hadn't unfolded in front of him (Bryan Fogel)...i was really interested in the effect the EPO etc was having and how much he would improve.
If you can stomach it, Bryan Fogel was just on Lance Armstrong's podcast
Worth it purely to remind yourself how little remorse or humility Armstrong is capable of...
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px;">Its a great documentary.</span><br style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px;">In some ways i was wishing the Grigory story hadn’t unfolded in front of him (Bryan Fogel)…i was really interested in the effect the EPO etc was having and how much he would improve.</span>
Although overshadowed by the greater news story, IIRC, Fogel found that whilst EPO helped his training, it did not provide any tangible improvement to his performance in the race, especially when compared to his performance the previous year. In fact, I think Fogel performed worse following his experiment.
It would have been interesting to have seen the affects of individual physiology explored more, but the drama and shock of the story that exploded upon them is compelling viewing. So of course the narrative of the film changes as it follows the story.
Although overshadowed by the greater news story, IIRC, Fogel found that whilst EPO helped his training, it did not provide any tangible improvement to his performance in the race, especially when compared to his performance the previous year. In fact, I think Fogel performed worse following his experiment.
He made some huge power gains and got very lean while on PEDs. He also stated that his ability to train hard and recover had significantly improved. His poorer performance in the race had more to do with bad luck than his physical capabilities.
Edit... listening to the interview (about 20 mins in) he said that he went from about 140lbs to 120lbs, and his sustainable power went up from something like 250 to 350 watts. So w/kg up from about 3.9 to 6.4, which if correct is a mind bogglingly huge jump.
Yeah he explains more about the race in the Armstrong podcast. He had punctures, his DI2 failed plus he had other problems.
The guy that's won the Haute Route several times is juiced to the tits. He's been popped a few times for PEDs. All the top amateur guys are at it.
I watched Icarus last night on Netflix and just saw this story break about Beckie Scott who was in one scene - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/45840481
Icarus won an Oscar for best documentary so well worth a watch.
Wow that’s crazy. If we lose credible, diligent clean sporting reps like Beckie from the WADA committee what’s left?
And only a couple of weeks ago, WADA reinstated Russia after its suspension as a result of the Icarus scandal.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/45565273
Franky I think WADA are just as corrupt as RusADA. But then, most of top level athletics sadly is, and I wonder why I encourage my kids into it.
We can only hope that eventually the detection technology will become so good that it will be impossible to cheat. The very thing that compels top athletes to become top athletes...the desire to win, will always push them to push the limits and be tempted to go beyond the limits. No athlete is immune from that, if they were they wouldn't be a top athlete. Whatever rules they put in place will just drive athletes and teams to exploit the loopholes or see how far they can put upto the limit. The sums of money, the pressure on their employers for success to maintain lucrative sponsorship deals is too great