Icarus - Netflix documentary on Russian doping scandal

Watched it yesterday.



Meh

I mean, it's ok. But it's difficult to follow.

They really will make a documentary about every little thing.

Well we cheat too. It's just not sponsored and paid for by the government.

Santa Monica track club in the 80's with Carl Lewis and most of our sprinters was dirty too...there's a doc on the US sprinting program from 1975-1990 that is similar to this doc...but I forget the title.

I mean the women's 100m record set in 1988 by FloJo still stands today. There hasn't been any other sprinting record that has withstood almost 30 years of challenges. The only other sprinting record that lasted forever was the East Germans 4X100 women's relay set in 1985 and wasn't broken until the Americans in 2012.

Okay

Movie could have been a lot better. This was somewhat weak indictment...even though it's obvious. Story wasn't told very well. But this is nothing new from the days of East Germany. And of course they did it.

But the more stories come out the more it seems like a global thing.

(The last white guy to win the 100m at the Olympics was in 1980 Alan Welles ...and he was GBR with 10.25). Lewis won it in 1984 with 9.99...the defending Olympic champ Welles went 10.71 in the Semifinal.

The one documentary on the US T&F is far more interesting, information about global doping and the need to do it from every country. I think the Marion Jones scandal opened the eyes to American sprinting doping even after the rumors of FloJo back in the 80s and some early 80s guys from Santa Monica Track have said, if you weren't doping you weren't running.

There was one US sprinter trying to be a coach on the 1984 team and he said the last time sprinting was clean was 1972. Then doping took over globally.