This is the documentary that won at this year's Oscars and I can kind of see why. It starts out a guy trying to cheat the system to see if he can and ends up a huge global conspiracy.Bryan Fogel is an amateur cyclist. He's competed in some of the hardest races available and never made it to the top 10. He's okay with that until the whole Lance Armstrong bust for blood doping. That sets Bryan to thinking. Could he beat all the safeguards in place and race while doping? He calls people, high up in the anti-doping world, doctors, people who have spent their lives and careers ensuring a sense of fair play. They agree to help him start on a program. Then his anti-doping guy chickens out, but not before he tells Fogel about Grigory Rodchenkov, head of the Russian anti-doping agency. Rodchenkov is enthusiastic and he and Fogel meet several times and Skype over Fogel's treatment regimen and plans for getting past the safeguards so he doesn't get caught. Along the way, Rodchenkov drops the bomb that Russia has a state-sponsored doping program for its athletes, which is then confirmed by a German TV exposé, forcing Rodchenkov to flee for his life.
This story snowballs totally before kind of fizzling out at the end. I'm still watching the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics (I'm so far behind on TV. I'm not even kidding) and the Olympic Athletes from Russia are not doing so hot. This scandal has wrecked the legacy of the country and tainted even the innocent athletes. I don't generally give a shit about sports and I don't really care who's taking what but...
No, I still don't care. I was sitting there for five solid minutes trying to think of one aspect of this situation that affected me emotionally or psychologically and came up empty. I don't care. It's interesting to see how they did it and kind of impressive to what lengths they went, but I just don't give a shit beyond mild interest.
If you like sports, however, this might be something you'd want to watch. The process is pretty fascinating.
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