Icarus Final Draft- Fall of an Empire

     

    The documentary Icarus is a film that came out in 2017 that is directed by Bryan Fogel, and Icarus

puts a big microscope on the world of sports doping and looks to iterate on why it is unethical.   There

are multiple characters who put their input about the doping scandal through short interviews, but there

are two central characters that the film centers around.  Bryan Fogel, a cyclist who competed against

Lance Armstrong, and Grigory Rodchenkov, who was the head of the Russian doping program that

allowed the Russians to get away with cheating in the Olympics for so long.  Throughout the film, it

portrays the idea of athletes getting a large advantage in competition due to doping very well.  The film

starts with Bryan and his cycling career, and how he idolizes Lance Armstrong, who at the time was

considered one of the best cyclists in the world.  However, when Fogel sees the news that Armstrong

was doping, it upsets him that his idol is a doper and a cheater.  However, it also motivates him to start

doping in order to find out how athletes were getting away with it.

But, Fogel needed to connect with someone who was/had been experienced in helping athletes dope before in order to be able to dope correctly.  This is what led him to connect with Rodchenkov, who checked this box.  Fogel set up a video call with Rodchenkov to get the load down about how this would go.  Rodchenkov explained to Fogel that he would start off by being assigned dosages by Grigory and begin the doping cycle.  He also explained to Fogel what amount of dosage to take, as well as how to do it without getting caught.  In a scene where Bryan was taking the samples, they gave his legs some bruising after being inserted, exploring possible negative side effects of doping.  This scene makes a point that even though doping may give the user a competitive advantage, it does not go without its negative side effects, whether that be just bruising, or something a lot worse.

Fogel starts testing out doping by just doing normal rides without competing to see the effects of the doping, specifically how much it improved his performance.  He observes that his performance is much improved, as his times on his rides were dropping.  The scene further illustrates the film's point that doping is giving athletes a large advantage.  Later on, Fogel begins competing while doping and sees how much of an advantage he has on the field.  He starts off very well, but a problem with the spokes in his bike occurs, effectively taking him out of the race.  Though he did not finish the race well, he achieved his goal of seeing how much of an advantage he had while doping, further proving the film’s point.  

Shortly after Bryan’s competition, an information leak in the news reveals that the Russians were doping up their Track and Field athletes in the Olympics, and that Rodchenkov was heavily involved in the scandal. This leads into a key scene in the film, which is when they show all of the Olympic world records that were either broken by the Russians, or records that the Russians already had.  The scene is very well detailed, drawing up many records and times that date back many years, and lead up to the present day.  The film uses a logical appeal when showing these numbers to write home the film’s point about doping.  The scene also reveals how long the Russians may have been doping, and ponders if the Russians had been doping longer than had once been imagined.

However, after the news broke out about the Russians, Rodchenkov discovers that one of his close friends, who worked with an anti-doping group in Russia, mysteriously died one night.  This indicates to him that his life is in danger as well, because he believes that the Russians went after him and killed him.  Shortly after, Fogel and Rodchenkov get on a video call and Rodchenkov explains to Fogel that his life is in danger.  This scene uses a pathological appeal to grip at the emotions of the viewers.  Not only does the scene paint a picture that the Russians were dangerous, but the scene also focuses on Rodchenkov’s situation and makes the viewers feel stressed for Rodchenkov’s life.  This scene also depicts a sense of worry and fear for Rodchenkov, and Fogel as well since he knows a lot of information about Rodchenkov and his history in the Russian doping program.  Fogel and Rodchenkov then formulate a plan to get more news out about the Russian program, as well as making sure Rodchenkov was safe and outside of Russia.  They conclude the meeting by planning for Rodchenkov to flee Russia and go to L.A., where Fogel lives.  Rodchenkov leaves without his wife, kid, or most of his personal belongings to not create further risk for his family or himself.  

Rodchenkov arrives in L.A. from his flight safely and meets Fogel at the airport.  Shortly after his arrival, Rodchenkov is interviewed by Fogel about the Russian doping program. This scene further elaborates on some methods that athletes would use to get away with doping.  Rodchenkov starts the interview by revealing that he headed the Russian doping program at one time, and states how they had been doing it since the 60s, and perhaps longer.  He then goes into great detail about the system they used to make it seem like their athletes were clean and clear for competition.  He describes that when the pee samples of the athletes were taken, they had two carts for the samples, which they deemed Cart A and Cart B.  On one cart were the pee samples that were clean, which he explained were frozen so that bacteria wouldn’t grow, making the pee clear.  However, they had to keep the pee frozen, or else the bacteria would and make the pee samples unclean.  The other cart was the unclean samples, which they threw out.  Grigory also draws out how they threw out the dirty pee samples without getting caught.  The person who rolled out the cart would take it next to the wall on the other side of a certain room in the lab, where a hole that was big enough to fit the pee samples in was drilled.  They would slip all of the pee samples into the hole and into said certain room.  The Russians would then confiscate the pee samples and keep the frozen ones for testing.  Rodchenkov also states after this process that Vladmir Putin, the president of Russia, knew about the program. This further explains why Rodchenkov’s life was in danger because Putin knew about Rodchenkov’s history with the program, as well as that Rodchenkov knew vital information about the program, and that Putin wouldn’t want this information to get out.  This scene very methodically details how the Russian’s system of getting rid of the unclean pee samples of the doping athletes was so simple and easy to do, rather than it being a complicated plot that they would repeat, over and over again.

After the information about the Russians was exposed, the Russians were temporarily banned from publicly competing in athletics, which included the Rio 2016 Olympics.  They were eventually allowed to compete publicly against other countries once again, but it didn’t change the fact of what they did.  Although the Russians had been exposed, Grigory couldn’t go back to Russia due to the threat that they would have on his life.  So, he came to an agreement with the U.S. Government to live in an isolated location in the U.S. that the Russians, and most other people, wouldn’t know about.  Today, Rodchenkov is still living in hiding while Fogel is still competing in cycling while also directing and producing other documentaries, like The Dissident.  

The story of Icarus sheds light on the dark side of athletics, and why doping in sports is unethical.  The film also hits home on the advantage doping athletes have over clean athletes in competition.  But, the film also details why you don’t want to be involved in the doping business, and how dangerous it can be.  The concluding scenes of the film illustrate that the future of these sports are much brighter, and that they will be a lot cleaner competitively as well (Icarus).