THEthe Alex Schwazer casethe series conceived and directed by Massimo Cappello, available from today on Netflixtells much more than a history of sport and doping. It is the story of a scandal, of a man who reaches the top with an Olympic gold and immediately after the abyss with doping, it is the story of many mistakes, acceptance of one’s limitationsstrength to stand up and one court case that goes beyond the story of the marathon runner Alex Schwazer.
We witness the continuous rebirth and relapse of a fragile, depressed man, left in his own hands, who finally manages to react after meeting with the coach symbol of clean sport Sandro Donatia mentor, a kind of father, a friend to fight against the rubber wall of the International Athletics Federation WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency. The attempt to return to the Olympics was in vain.
Alex Schwazer: gold in Beijing 2008 and love for Carolina Kostner
In 2008 Alex Schwazer wins the gold medal at Beijing Olympics in the 50 km march. It’s the best moment in the life of the 23-year-old who as a child walked the mountains of his Calice for 10 hours at an altitude of 3500 meters. His dream comes true. “I wanted to stop time,” the athlete says in the docu-series. The media spotlight is all on the emperor of the marathon come on Caroline Kostner, the ice princess. The love between the two had broken out a few days before the Olympics and they were one of most popular couples of 2009.
Caroline Kostner. (Netflix)
The doping scandal before the London 2012 Olympics
That disproportionate media attention is not good for the Vipiteno marathon runner. falls into depression, retires at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009 and silver at the 2010 European Championships counts for nothing. The Russians came first because they took drugs. Alex with anger inside him begins to train alone and dope.
Three days before London 2012 Olympics the inspectors catch him with his hands in the jam: his crying at the press conference goes around the world. Alex had bought the drug EPO in Türkiye. Had he acted alone? The coach Sandro Donati, who fought anti-doping for the Federation, studies the case by probing his entire sporting life. He also does urine tests Beijing 2008, because he had doubts even about that victory. The medal was clean.
Alex Schwazer and Sandro Donati. (Netflix)
Beyond the Alex Schwazer case and farewell to Kostner
From that moment begins a new life for Schwazer. Caroline Kostner she leaves him after almost 4 years of relationship: «I needed to look to the future», comments the skater, who was disqualified for aiding and abetting. Schwazer enrolls in university, but continues to run for passion. Behind his case, however, there is much more.
There was a gray area of doctors from the federation who knew very well who the world-class athletes who took doping were. There was a database with 12 thousand analyzes of athletes of all the world. The federation experimented with doping for a fee with the help of some doctors and at the same time he was fighting doping, with the help of people like Sandro Donati. A silent criminal association.
The rebirth of Schwazer, his wife and second positivity
In 2014 Alex returns to train with Sandro Donati, the one who had accused him of doping. After six months Schwazer achieves extraordinary results. Meanwhile, the federation also tries to destroy Donati’s reputation. Another victim of a gigantic conspiracy that does not exist for sports justice.
Meanwhile, Alex meets his wife Kathrinwith whom he has two children, but has the dream of returning to Olympics, in Rio. We are in 2016. Schwazer has all it takes to win. The doping inspectors took his blood on 1 January 2016, an anomaly given that the Lausanne laboratory was closed for holidays that day.
Schwazer is tested positive for the second time and cannot participate in the Olympics. Someone framed him. Ordinary justice proved him right: those test tubes were manipulated. Sports justice banned him for eight years. He could return to compete in July 2024, but for Paris There’s no time. “As a man I was reborn, as an athlete I will never get justice,” says Schwazer.
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