Running for my Truth: Alex Schwazer (2023) s01e02 Episode Script
Episode 2
1
CALICE
30 JULY 2012
- Tell the inspector I'm not here.
- Pack your stuff and go home.
I'll pack and go to Calice.
I was fully aware that in Calice
I would have tested positive.
It was chaos in my head,
and I couldn't ignore it.
I had to keep the promise
I made to Carolina.
I just had to.
I went home, and late at night,
the anti-doping check arrived.
I did it. I couldn't escape it anymore.
I was too exhausted to hope for a miracle.
ALEX SCHWAZER: RUNNING FOR MY TRUTH
BOLZANO
8 AUGUST 2012
I thought, "What a shame, though,
to end it like this."
"You could have been
the strongest ever, and you ruined it."
An awful incident,
humiliating Italian sports,
involving Alex Schwazer.
He fooled us all.
He had been
under scrutiny for ages.
In less than ten hours,
I organized a press conference.
TV channels from
all over the world showed up.
First of all,
I want to thank you all for coming.
I got a call from London, telling me
that they've received a notification
about me testing positive for EPO.
For me, this has been
It's been really hard for me.
And on Monday the 30th,
the doorbell rang at my house.
And I knew it was the anti-doping check.
I no longer had the strength
to tell my mother,
"Don't open it."
"Or if you do open,
say I'm not here. That I'm out."
But I have to say,
I no longer had the strength, and
and I just couldn't wait
for it to all be over.
Italian racewalker
Schwazer banned for doping.
I've thrown away
all those years of training.
A bitter day,
completely ruined by
the terrible news that shocked us all.
I saw him crying like that,
and it broke my heart.
Italian racewalker Alex Schwazer
banned from the Olympic Games for doping.
Fewer medals, but more integrity.
Psychologically, it was a blow to me
because every morning,
I had to get up at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 a.m.
'cause I knew an anti-doping check
could come any time after 6:00 a.m.
I'd have to tell my girlfriend
not to open the door,
or I'd have tested positive.
It was tough.
It was further amplified
by the media attention.
Lover or accomplice?
Loyal out of love for her partner,
or spy out of love for the truth?
For me, it wasn't
It wasn't easy for me to say
that the drug in the refrigerator
was vitamin B-12, and not EPO.
It wasn't easy for me to tell that lie.
And I'm really ashamed.
When I saw Alex
in the press conference,
I saw this kind of desperate cry.
What surprised me is that,
unlike 98% of hundreds
of doping cases that I followed,
there was this instant meltdown,
this desperate cry.
A doped athlete
never confesses.
Not right away.
Not when the positivity
is announced. Never.
But I'm also happy
that it's all over
and maybe now I'll be able to have
a normal life.
It's not like
I was particularly impressed
by his state of mind.
I had interpreted it as,
uh, an act.
To gain support, sympathy, approval.
A man, to save himself,
is prepared to act better
than Gassman or any great actor.
You shouldn't be influenced by that.
I remember his cry.
My wife said, "Oh no, poor thing.
I worry for his mother."
I turned on the TV.
It was already on every channel.
Anger and tears in Bolzano
at Alex Schwazer's press conference.
"I did it all by myself."
This is an offense
to all Italian athletes.
Nervously smoking
a cigarette outside his barn,
there's no peace for Alex's father.
After this conference,
Alex's sponsor called.
I was attacked by companies and the media.
At the same time, Alex was a part
of a military sports group.
The Carabinieri.
Wonderful, hard-earned gold medal.
To start with,
they asked him to quit the military corps.
Dark glasses on his face,
sitting in the back seat of a black Audi,
Alex Schwazer spent two and a half hours
at this military base in Bologna.
The sports group wanted to
get rid of this negative element.
A champion who got involved with doping
while being a member of the army.
Schwazer was called
to the Bologna army barracks,
where the Carabinieri
sports group is based,
and there, a marshal started
putting a lot of pressure on him
so that he would quickly ask
to be discharged.
I'm telling you that
the situation is getting
very complicated for you.
I mean, since you'll undergo
a military disciplinary procedure,
because we are law enforcement.
So if the law decides to do it, we do it.
If you move forward,
it'll be a problem for you.
- That's what I'm advising.
- I'll let you know.
The army wants you
to go today, Alex.
- Now?
- Yes.
If he had stayed,
they would have had to
internally investigate.
They would have had to explain
why they had let him travel abroad
repeatedly without authorization.
Why he was allowed so much freedom.
I mean, not even
Nazi criminals at the Nuremberg trials
were so ashamed
of the horrors they had perpetrated.
I found something savage,
something primitive
in the ritual he had to go through,
to prove that he was the only sinner
and everyone else was a saint.
Italian racewalker Alex Schwazer
banned from the Olympic Games for doping,
while the Bolzano city prosecutor's office
has launched an investigation
into sport fraud.
Italy has a penal law for doping,
so that is considered an offense report,
and a prosecutor is legally bound
to open an investigation.
PROSECUTOR OF THE REPUBLIC
With the Bolzano
prosecutor's office,
we first looked at Schwazer's home,
seizing not only paper materials,
such as documents and diaries,
but also IT materials,
such as laptops and mobile phones,
in order to reconstruct
the origins of this positive test
and find out who else
might be an accomplice.
The whole heavy machinery
of a criminal investigation
was put in motion.
They took my computer.
They found the testosterone gel.
They even took my passport,
which had an entry stamp of Türkiye,
where I had traveled to buy the EPO.
My hunch was that Türkiye
could be a false lead.
Athletes don't take it upon themselves
to directly procure the drug.
Someone else, maybe a coach,
a doctor, a masseuse,
usually does it for them.
We found this DIY somewhat suspicious,
so we were very meticulous.
I never thought of having someone
get the drug for me.
Obviously, the first step,
if you don't have any contacts,
is the internet.
Alex Schwazer tried to research
what he needed to buy.
He needed to find out if the drug effects
significantly enhanced
his performance or not.
He also needed to know
the so-called "clearance times."
How long the substance takes
to leave the body
so he could pass a drug test.
If you buy EPO
from a random internet website,
there is no certainty the EPO will come.
Or, if the EPO comes,
it might not have been stored properly,
and you might be risking your life.
So, I had to understand where
I could buy these drugs,
and where a medical prescription
was more of an option.
Eventually, I chose Türkiye.
ANTALYA
TÜRKIYE 2011
The important thing for me
was to choose a hotel
from where I could easily
have walked to several pharmacies.
I never switched off my mobile,
because I was worried
that if it had been off
and someone had called,
a Turkish voicemail would have answered.
On the 5th of September,
I went to the first pharmacy.
I show an EPO prescription
on a sheet of paper,
and 25 minutes later,
a boy comes on a scooter,
a thermal bag on the back
The EPO.
The crazy part was that
the pharmacist even offered me
a paper to accompany the drug,
in case I ran into problems at the border.
Leaving the pharmacy, I thought,
"It's really as easy
as I'd read on the internet."
On the other hand,
"What the fuck am I doing?"
Because the streets there
are full of tourists,
walking with an ice cream
and enjoying their holidays.
And I'm there to buy drugs.
We investigated meticulously,
but we didn't find any accomplices
in this mission to Türkiye,
where he purchased drugs
which he kept using up until 2012.
The case seemed strange,
so I was convinced
that Schwazer was covering for someone.
We deployed the best resources
we had access to.
Plus, WADA nominated Donati,
who was considered the guru
of international anti-doping.
The World Anti-Doping Agency
asked me to study
all the documents seized from Schwazer.
Donati was persistent in verifying
what Schwazer did before July 30th, 2012,
then we started going back,
scanning his entire career in sports,
all the way back
to his performances before Beijing.
personal best
and has the bronze medal.
Marvelous performances
in the heat of Osaka.
Gold medal for Alex Schwazer.
I even had
some doubts about Schwazer's victory
back at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
I am someone
who doesn't cheat.
I can assure you.
Many people kept wondering,
"Is it possible that an athlete
who used doping in 2012
hadn't used doping as well in 2008,
when he had won
with a blatant display of superiority?"
Given the doubts on his Olympic victory,
the WADA ordered for his urine
to be tested again,
but it showed
that he was completely clean.
During Beijing,
he was in contact with Conconi,
but nothing illegal was found.
So we decided the medal was legitimate.
I was struck by this fact.
I felt floored, proven wrong.
However, I still had suspicions
on the role of Michele Ferrari.
Donati was thorough.
He never left a stone unturned.
There had been contacts with Dr. Ferrari.
I remember Ferrari and Schwazer
once met in a camper.
And we investigated it,
but nothing came up
to tie it to these doping offenses
committed by Schwazer.
I told myself, "So you made a blunder.
Your accusation was baseless."
Since I had an ongoing lawsuit
and things were difficult,
Carolina wanted to take a break.
There are wounds that undermine
the very foundations of a relationship.
So, there's no need
to talk a lot about it,
or to fight.
Let's say I just needed to to look ahead.
Look to the future.
I was questioning things.
Because they always say,
you should be with a person,
for better or worse.
I was more interested in
getting out of the situation
I had suddenly found myself in,
which was causing me
a lot of distress and a lot of pain.
We broke up, but I still loved her.
Because for all these years,
I had always thought she would be
the love of my life.
We met for a simple tea
and to say goodbye.
Three years
and nine months, a heavy disqualification
ROME
23 APRIL 2013
inflicted on Alex Schwazer
by the sports tribunal.
Meanwhile, the criminal investigation
into the racewalker continues.
As for my criminal investigation,
I followed up as little as possible.
Because the sportsman in me
had been destroyed by then.
And it's a significant thing
for an Olympic champion.
But now, life awaits.
Time to discover life.
After I got caught, I felt liberated.
At 28, I started doing things
that others usually do after high school.
I applied to university,
with kids who were mostly
ten years younger than me,
and with a much
better background than mine.
I started from scratch.
I'll never forget my first class,
because I didn't understand anything.
During the summer break,
I stayed in Innsbruck,
and I took a summer job as a waiter.
I did all sorts of things.
I washed up. I served meals to people.
On a human level,
this experience enriched me.
It's what I was looking for.
A drastic change which would help me
understand certain things.
Then, one day, during a lesson
on sports medicine,
the issue of doping came up.
We were talking about doping in general,
and we got to discuss
famous cases of of doping.
There was Lance Armstrong, then others.
Suddenly, my photo came up.
I was surprised.
It was the picture of me in Beijing
at the finish line,
when I did this.
Just
instinctively.
I got up, I turned around
in front of everyone, I said,
"This is me."
I wasn't embarrassed. Not at all.
Because, in the meantime,
the image I had of sport
was gradually getting repaired.
I had started training again.
I was running and cycling.
I was reborn.
BOLZANO
JUNE 2013
During the investigation,
we learned Schwazer had a gray area
of individuals
who were interacting with him,
and who looked suspicious to us.
Some doctors of the federation,
namely Drs. Fischetto and Fiorella.
In particular, I remember
this email with Dr. Fiorella
where Schwazer was telling Dr. Fiorella
that in March 2012,
he had done some "stupid shit."
Those were literally his words.
The hypothesis of aiding and abetting
was starting to emerge.
The investigation immediately
took on a different angle,
with several people being investigated,
while, initially, the legal action
was exclusively focused on Schwazer.
So, we also started investigating
individuals who belonged
to the medical sector of the federation.
We carried out phone tappings,
searches, and confiscations.
There were some interesting wiretapped
comments made by Dr. Fischetto,
a collaborator of the anti-doping section
of the International Federation.
Hello?
Enzo, this is Giuseppe Fischetto.
- Giuseppe, hi. How are you?
- A bit pissed off with the law.
You probably heard they came to seize
our computers and everything.
Where? I don't know anything.
They came to me, to Fiorella.
It's about the Schwazer incident.
They're looking into the idea that someone
might have supported Schwazer.
While I was searching
for evidence to support the accusations
against Schwazer,
I came across a database
that was on two computers
belonging to Dr. Fischetto.
This database contained
an enormous archive
of results of over 12,000 tests
carried out by the International
Federation on athletes
from all over the world.
And I realized that many
of the values were anomalous.
Especially the Russians' tests.
Included were the most important
athletes of that time.
Weeks after passing the database
to the World Anti-Doping Agency,
many things should have happened.
Instead, nothing happened at all.
And that was glaring evidence
of the involvement of the Russians
in the insane case of doping.
At the same time,
it was proof of the involvement
of the International Federation
of Athletics in covering this doping.
I'm just worried
about the digital material,
about the whole confidential
international activity, you know?
Imagine if they got hold of the data
on the Russians, the Turks, or the others.
There'd be an international outcry.
This kraut has to be killed.
They have to Kostner,
who knew all about it for sure.
The Schwazer case,
the anti-doping tribunal
disqualified Carolina Kostner
for a year and four months
for complicity and reporting omission.
I am very disheartened
and very disappointed.
She won't be able to compete
in the Stockholm European Championships
or the Shanghai Worlds.
It was humiliating to have to
defend myself from those accusations.
Even though I knew
I had nothing to do with doping.
PRESIDENT OF CONI
According to sports law,
if you have knowledge of any members
allegedly using drugs of any kind,
you must immediately report them.
It is your duty to come forward,
or you will be held liable too.
The prosecutor is convinced
Carolina Kostner covered up
Schwazer's doping,
lying to anti-doping inspectors
who came looking for the racewalker
at her address in Germany,
in order to subject him to testing
before the 2012 Olympics.
Are the rules right or wrong?
Well, I didn't write the rules.
But we have to enforce them.
I wanted to go back to competitions
in high-level sport more than anything.
But I was a bit tired of constantly
hearing these accusations,
like I was a "serial doper."
I want to come back
and show everyone
ROME 2014
that I was clean
for my medal-level performances,
and I will be clean
for any performances from now on.
Returning to competitions
after an expulsion for doping
meant that I was supposed to do more.
So I said, "Okay, I'll be back
only if Donati trains me."
He thought that
the only credible way to come back
was with the man who had accused him.
I thought,
"You're saying I'm always doped?"
"Question yourself."
"I will question myself."
He messaged me,
saying that he wanted to talk to me.
But I wasn't at all convinced,
because, first of all,
some things had to be clarified.
It was about courage.
Both for me and him.
ROME
ITALY 2015
When Schwazer showed up
at my doorstep and came in,
we both definitely concealed our
feelings and tension.
It was like being questioned by a judge.
The first topic was my doping case.
I said, "Look,
I did the doping by myself."
"No one else injected me with a needle,
or told me how to do it."
"Otherwise I would have
done a transfusion."
"Which can't be detected."
"And which I never did."
That's what I said.
And he said, "Don't say that."
I said, "Yes, I'm saying it."
Anyway, Donati has never had
an easy temperament, you know?
I said, "It will take strength, courage,
and patience to go down this path."
Eventually, I realized
that he was guilty of certain things,
but not of others.
I started asking him
very specific questions,
making him extremely uncomfortable.
At some point, he burst out crying,
admitting he had taken the EPO
in the spring of 2012.
A perfect performance! It's stratospheric!
And that he had told
Fiorella about it.
Fiorella was the federation
doctor who very closely followed
middle-distance races and racewalking.
We met in Parma.
And there, I confessed everything to him.
Now, he could have chosen
not to say anything about these things,
because no one
had ever found him positive,
and the incident would have stayed buried.
So he was very honest with me.
Donati said, "I can't train you
unless you convince me, Schwazer,
that you are clean."
And that's what happened.
Fiorella never
directly helped me in doping,
nor provided the doping, or anything.
I did it, and that's it.
I made him think about
the fact that these people knew,
but remained on the sidelines. I told him,
"Look, you took more responsibility
than you needed to."
BOLZANO
8 AUGUST 2012
"You appeared
as the only offender in this story
while the others got away."
I just couldn't wait
for it to all be over.
"And these people acted
like you betrayed them."
"Like they were in pain because of you."
Donati informed us that Schwazer
was going to make further statements
about Dr. Fiorella,
which, in his opinion,
covered all the gray areas
where we had suspicions.
I probably stirred in him the decision
to report this fact to the judges.
So, it was painful, because
I still had some doubt
about whether I was
the only one responsible
or not.
I saw his desperation.
"Now you won't train me anymore,
you won't trust me anymore."
"No," I said, "I trust you because
you confessed this to me."
"I won't leave you alone
like the others have."
"In my eyes, you are an athlete
who needs help to recover,
and I'm a trainer who will help you."
The first thing
I remember he told me is,
"I'm going to do this for free."
Sounded good to me. Right?
Then, I remember a ton of ideas.
"We can do this, we must do that,
we have to do breathing exercises"
Really, boom, we got started.
It was great.
I had already taken on
the role of a coach,
who tried to light things up
with a torch in the dark,
to understand where to start from.
I asked him,
"Can you lean on the door of my house?"
"With your hands."
"Lean on one foot."
ROME
MARCH 2015
"And now start
bouncing lightly on that foot."
Try getting as high as you can.
Bravo.
Alex wasn't able to
lift his heel from the ground.
He was making a movement like this.
Very limited.
I'd never done this exercise before,
so I was terrible at it.
With my torch,
I had already lit up a key point,
because I had figured out
that he was lacking muscle efficiency
in a fundamental part of his body.
Like the wheels in a Formula 1 car,
so are feet for a racewalker.
After our training, I would've loved
to stay there, back in Rome.
Wake up the next day and get started.
Nice.
Great memories.
That's when he said,
"Feel free to take
all the tests you need."
It was him who said,
"I'll waive the one-hour window."
It's one thing if an athlete can only
be tested within an hourly timeframe.
just an hour.
Another thing
if he can be tested all the time.
I believe my transparency
was very important.
I set up a system
with the San Giovanni Hospital,
to which I gave full authority
to carry out tests on Schwazer
whenever they saw fit.
So, with these tests guaranteed,
Schwazer came to Rome to train with me.
Alex Schwazer
and Sandro Donati will work together
as the racewalker goes back to competing.
The press conference this morning.
Maybe we can get the message out again
that you can be good without doping.
A devil and an angel.
A man who had admitted to doping
and a man who fought against doping
joined together for the common goal
of succeeding at the Rio Olympic Games.
We'll lay our cards on
the table to make everything transparent.
SCHWAZER AND DONATI
THE CHALLENGE THAT CAUSES DISCUSSION
This odd couple,
once it formed, was met with mistrust
by the news and media outlets,
who believed that Sandro Donati,
in his egocentric desire
to reassert himself
after being marginalized
by the sporting world,
gets hold of a dangerous bomb,
and the name of this bomb
is Alex Schwazer.
Sandro put together a group
of people he had known for years
to help us.
I received this call
and he says, point-blank,
"Look, I'm going to train Schwazer.
I need your help."
"Your job will be to monitor
the technical aspects,
because I have background
in other sports, not racewalking."
And I was scared,
but I said yes.
They only did it out of passion.
Like Mario De Benedictis.
He regularly came all the way
from Pescara to follow my training.
We did it for free. I'd travel by
by bus, and pay for it by myself.
They never asked us for money.
They did it for free.
And this basically
involved everything,
because we believed this thing
was more precious than any other prize.
You know?
I felt obligated to make
their commitment worth it.
It was further motivation.
That's how I perceived it.
This was a rehabilitation operation.
Of the person first, then the athlete.
A rebirth in sport
is not all about results.
Beyond the sports project,
there's the life project.
Everything was new for Alex,
and Sandro too.
Sandro was used to working
with sprinters, not racewalkers.
It didn't bother me
that he wasn't a racewalking expert.
Because he brought
a lot of ideas and experience.
Alex worked hard. He trusted him fully.
He used to just
walk 40 kilometers,
every single day.
It's like if, on a piano keyboard,
you always played the same key.
Instead, I created a wider piano keyboard.
Go up by point four.
The first time, he suggested
I train in resistance and speed.
So very short distances at high speed.
Last 700.
Then we moved to longer distances.
One thousand meters,
two thousand, three thousand,
five thousand.
Two hundred more. You're doing great.
I was surprised by the training,
but I put myself entirely
in Sandro's hands.
In this way, within a few weeks,
I started to improve
his performance on longer distances.
What surprised me is,
I reached the point
I was running fast in all distances.
Even 5,000.
So, obviously,
you could hear music now,
not a repetitive thing
played on a single key.
This athlete was emerging,
with all his extraordinary abilities.
The improvements are amazing,
and he realizes Alex is performing better
than he was eight years before.
At that point, I felt encouraged
to be less formal,
so I started calling him Alex.
At first, I would call him "sir,"
then we switched to first names,
then I started calling him "the Prof."
I saw him as a professor.
He's always studying every single number.
So, "Professor"
just seems fitting, you know?
- Bye, Alex.
- Bye.
By fall of 2015, I'd been training
with Schwazer for half a year.
And his growth had been impressive.
He said,
"To wrap up this first season together,
let's do a test
so we can verify it."
We had to test him on the track.
But how can I do that since he's not
allowed to run on the track?
We decided to use
the Tagliacozzo track, in Abruzzo,
which was a sort of "deconsecrated" track,
in a sports sense.
It was, let's say, a bit run-down,
but it was good enough for us.
TAGLIACOZZO
24 SEPTEMBER 2015
Initially, I thought
he'd stop after one kilometer.
The first kilometer took
three minutes and 38 seconds.
Those in the business know
that's a crazy start.
Slow down. Slow down a lot, Alex.
Yeah, he walked better
in the second half than the first half.
Bravo, Alex! 1.36.
Alex, you have to give us
an incredible finish. Go on!
It was so gratifying
to be able to walk again
in a way that reminded me
of a competition.
Go, Alex!
I saw
a superior walker than the Alex
trained by Damilano eight years before,
and he could have achieved
any result in sport,
surely at world level.
27:58:02. We're five seconds
behind the world record.
A lot of people should think about this,
but they won't.
A second-best world performance.
- Of all time?
- Yes.
Actually, he would
have made the best world performance,
but that day it was very windy.
So, this is the first test we needed.
Sandro was excited by all of this.
Understandably. But, in hindsight,
perhaps, I think they could have
tried to avoid showing
that there was almost no game.
The next day,
we were attacked by Luciano Barra.
The man who would
obsessively and relentlessly try
in every possible and conceivable way
to prevent Schwazer
from returning to compete.
He claimed that
this training test was, in reality,
a race that violated
his disqualification period.
I'd never heard of this Luciano Barra
before meeting Donati.
Later, when I learned
about Sandro's story,
I understood who he was.
I understood he'll never stop
sowing hatred,
as much as possible,
into everything Donati did.
I mean, Luciano Barra
The Evangelisti case alone,
at the Rome World Championships of '87,
someone like him should just keep quiet.
ROME 1987
WORLD LONG JUMP FINAL
The entire
audience is here for Giovanni Evangelisti.
An extraordinary journey
at the Europeans and the Olympics,
where he earned a bronze medal.
That afternoon,
the competition had started a bit weird,
compared to the ones we usually organized.
In some jumps,
the post had been incorrectly placed,
shortening the jump distance.
Before Evangelisti's jump, we saw
chairman of the federation, Luciano Barra,
take an international judge by the arm
from the long jump platform,
and bring him
to another part of the field.
So, basically, with this move,
Barra left the Italian judges
alone by the platform.
Here's Evangelisti, really focused
for his sixth and final attempt.
Giovanni looked disappointed.
He was expecting to do a better jump.
I was really surprised
when a judge came around
and approached him.
"Wait. Just a moment. Don't despair.
Wait. Look at that."
And he pointed at the board,
where, after a few seconds,
a score of 8.38 meters lit up.
It's a good jump. 8.38 meters.
A bronze medal for Evangelisti.
I knew that
that measure was implausible.
Knowing it was fake,
I wanted to measure it again.
So I went there to protect the footprint,
but the national chairman of judges
entered the pit and stepped on it.
How did you feel
when the scoreboard lit up
with that number, 8.38?
I felt alone,
facing something bigger than me.
As soon as I left the stadium,
a judge asked me
what the heck had we done.
I told him, "I didn't do anything.
It's there for all to see."
I reported the case,
and an investigation was opened.
Then the head of the commission told me,
"Look, Donati, everyone is denying
everything here."
"I'm fully aware they're lying,
but you're basically finished."
"You either come up with hard proof,
or you're fired."
So, I gathered clues and testimonies.
Eventually, an old
competition judge tells me,
"Two young judges want to talk to you."
Everybody told me to mind my own business
and not say what happened.
I met with them discreetly,
since they were scared.
I told him to find
the footage of that day,
because it would show
exactly what happened.
So, we went to the RAI,
and we found those tapes.
It was a turning point
in finding out the truth.
These posts are placed immediately
after the athlete's jump,
and in a few seconds, they provide
the exact measure of the event.
VIDEO CASSETTE RECORDING NO. 9, RAI
The footage revealed that
the judge had placed the post
in the desired position
before Evangelisti actually jumped.
Which meant the result was fake.
So, I told the investigation committee,
"Look, there's a videotape."
"It proves everything."
Two days later, the tape went missing.
But it didn't matter,
because I had mentioned
the same tape to Gianni Minà,
who had it duplicated by a friend
and broadcast it in prime time.
This is
never-before-seen footage,
not broadcast during the championships.
TV images that can help the investigation
of one of the most controversial cases
of recent times.
So, I avoided
being fired, but obviously,
there was no longer room for me
as a national trainer.
Donati has always sided with people
trying to expose the cheaters.
Especially
if the cheaters
were going to get away with it.
Everyone held a grudge against me.
And Barra lost his job for a while.
New developments
in the case of Evangelisti's rigged jump.
For the first time
in the history of athletics,
a medal has been revoked.
One day I showed up,
and my office had been emptied.
They put my stuff in a closet.
They were literally trying to bury me.
This hatred against him
has no expiration date.
They keep attacking him.
CALICE
ITALY 2015
I was very happy then.
I met a wonderful woman
who made me feel excited to be around.
Come to me, don't be afraid.
A bit more.
Alex was training in Rome.
He was feeling great.
Plus, he was in love,
and everything was nice.
When you meet the right person,
you can't make plans anymore.
When I went back for Christmas,
we'd see each other
every day at her place.
But he never stopped training.
Even during the holidays.
It was his dream to show
the whole world that
he'd come back.
BOLZANO
16 DECEMBER 2015
An important trial
has started in Bolzano today.
The defendants are Pierluigi Fiorella
and Giuseppe Fischetto,
doctors for
the Italian Athletics Federation.
In the afternoon, Alex Schwazer
was called to testify as a witness.
Schwazer openly admitted
his responsibility,
so we closed the legal proceedings
against Schwazer.
But if there's a whole world around him
that can benefit from his results
and favors him,
it's only fair that these individuals
are also prosecuted.
With Sandro Donati, I thought deeply
about the anti-doping system.
This led him to provide
a complete statement,
admitting the use of testosterone in 2011
and the use of EPO in 2012,
and that he had told
Mr. Fiorella about it.
I told him about the EPO.
How I had taken it.
And the benefits I had felt.
I remember that
we talked about
where more benefits were felt,
if on 20 or 50 kilometers.
If I had known what
was going on behind the scenes,
I would have said it sooner.
So, what I read in the legal records
is that Fischetto's database,
the database of shame,
Fiorella knew about it.
So he knew everything.
Okay?
And he didn't do anything.
I believe they are
far more guilty than what I did.
And I'm not justifying what I did.
The Schwazer affair went further.
It ended up involving, for reasons
I still to this day can't fathom,
several other people at different levels.
CALICE
1 JANUARY 2016
January 1st, Alex was forced to drug test.
The International Athletics Federation
had ordered another anti-doping check.
We didn't know why.
I had never been checked
on the 1st of January.
They were regularly
doing anti-doping checks on me.
He jokingly says to me,
"Prof, it's the 1st of January,
and they have nothing better to do
than come test me?"
Why aren't checks done on January 1st?
Because the lab is closed.
So, if you test on the 1st,
you have to hold the urine for a day.
So you do it on the 2nd.
Or you do it on the 31st.
It was a bad sign.
Something suspicious was going on.
CALICE
30 JULY 2012
- Tell the inspector I'm not here.
- Pack your stuff and go home.
I'll pack and go to Calice.
I was fully aware that in Calice
I would have tested positive.
It was chaos in my head,
and I couldn't ignore it.
I had to keep the promise
I made to Carolina.
I just had to.
I went home, and late at night,
the anti-doping check arrived.
I did it. I couldn't escape it anymore.
I was too exhausted to hope for a miracle.
ALEX SCHWAZER: RUNNING FOR MY TRUTH
BOLZANO
8 AUGUST 2012
I thought, "What a shame, though,
to end it like this."
"You could have been
the strongest ever, and you ruined it."
An awful incident,
humiliating Italian sports,
involving Alex Schwazer.
He fooled us all.
He had been
under scrutiny for ages.
In less than ten hours,
I organized a press conference.
TV channels from
all over the world showed up.
First of all,
I want to thank you all for coming.
I got a call from London, telling me
that they've received a notification
about me testing positive for EPO.
For me, this has been
It's been really hard for me.
And on Monday the 30th,
the doorbell rang at my house.
And I knew it was the anti-doping check.
I no longer had the strength
to tell my mother,
"Don't open it."
"Or if you do open,
say I'm not here. That I'm out."
But I have to say,
I no longer had the strength, and
and I just couldn't wait
for it to all be over.
Italian racewalker
Schwazer banned for doping.
I've thrown away
all those years of training.
A bitter day,
completely ruined by
the terrible news that shocked us all.
I saw him crying like that,
and it broke my heart.
Italian racewalker Alex Schwazer
banned from the Olympic Games for doping.
Fewer medals, but more integrity.
Psychologically, it was a blow to me
because every morning,
I had to get up at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 a.m.
'cause I knew an anti-doping check
could come any time after 6:00 a.m.
I'd have to tell my girlfriend
not to open the door,
or I'd have tested positive.
It was tough.
It was further amplified
by the media attention.
Lover or accomplice?
Loyal out of love for her partner,
or spy out of love for the truth?
For me, it wasn't
It wasn't easy for me to say
that the drug in the refrigerator
was vitamin B-12, and not EPO.
It wasn't easy for me to tell that lie.
And I'm really ashamed.
When I saw Alex
in the press conference,
I saw this kind of desperate cry.
What surprised me is that,
unlike 98% of hundreds
of doping cases that I followed,
there was this instant meltdown,
this desperate cry.
A doped athlete
never confesses.
Not right away.
Not when the positivity
is announced. Never.
But I'm also happy
that it's all over
and maybe now I'll be able to have
a normal life.
It's not like
I was particularly impressed
by his state of mind.
I had interpreted it as,
uh, an act.
To gain support, sympathy, approval.
A man, to save himself,
is prepared to act better
than Gassman or any great actor.
You shouldn't be influenced by that.
I remember his cry.
My wife said, "Oh no, poor thing.
I worry for his mother."
I turned on the TV.
It was already on every channel.
Anger and tears in Bolzano
at Alex Schwazer's press conference.
"I did it all by myself."
This is an offense
to all Italian athletes.
Nervously smoking
a cigarette outside his barn,
there's no peace for Alex's father.
After this conference,
Alex's sponsor called.
I was attacked by companies and the media.
At the same time, Alex was a part
of a military sports group.
The Carabinieri.
Wonderful, hard-earned gold medal.
To start with,
they asked him to quit the military corps.
Dark glasses on his face,
sitting in the back seat of a black Audi,
Alex Schwazer spent two and a half hours
at this military base in Bologna.
The sports group wanted to
get rid of this negative element.
A champion who got involved with doping
while being a member of the army.
Schwazer was called
to the Bologna army barracks,
where the Carabinieri
sports group is based,
and there, a marshal started
putting a lot of pressure on him
so that he would quickly ask
to be discharged.
I'm telling you that
the situation is getting
very complicated for you.
I mean, since you'll undergo
a military disciplinary procedure,
because we are law enforcement.
So if the law decides to do it, we do it.
If you move forward,
it'll be a problem for you.
- That's what I'm advising.
- I'll let you know.
The army wants you
to go today, Alex.
- Now?
- Yes.
If he had stayed,
they would have had to
internally investigate.
They would have had to explain
why they had let him travel abroad
repeatedly without authorization.
Why he was allowed so much freedom.
I mean, not even
Nazi criminals at the Nuremberg trials
were so ashamed
of the horrors they had perpetrated.
I found something savage,
something primitive
in the ritual he had to go through,
to prove that he was the only sinner
and everyone else was a saint.
Italian racewalker Alex Schwazer
banned from the Olympic Games for doping,
while the Bolzano city prosecutor's office
has launched an investigation
into sport fraud.
Italy has a penal law for doping,
so that is considered an offense report,
and a prosecutor is legally bound
to open an investigation.
PROSECUTOR OF THE REPUBLIC
With the Bolzano
prosecutor's office,
we first looked at Schwazer's home,
seizing not only paper materials,
such as documents and diaries,
but also IT materials,
such as laptops and mobile phones,
in order to reconstruct
the origins of this positive test
and find out who else
might be an accomplice.
The whole heavy machinery
of a criminal investigation
was put in motion.
They took my computer.
They found the testosterone gel.
They even took my passport,
which had an entry stamp of Türkiye,
where I had traveled to buy the EPO.
My hunch was that Türkiye
could be a false lead.
Athletes don't take it upon themselves
to directly procure the drug.
Someone else, maybe a coach,
a doctor, a masseuse,
usually does it for them.
We found this DIY somewhat suspicious,
so we were very meticulous.
I never thought of having someone
get the drug for me.
Obviously, the first step,
if you don't have any contacts,
is the internet.
Alex Schwazer tried to research
what he needed to buy.
He needed to find out if the drug effects
significantly enhanced
his performance or not.
He also needed to know
the so-called "clearance times."
How long the substance takes
to leave the body
so he could pass a drug test.
If you buy EPO
from a random internet website,
there is no certainty the EPO will come.
Or, if the EPO comes,
it might not have been stored properly,
and you might be risking your life.
So, I had to understand where
I could buy these drugs,
and where a medical prescription
was more of an option.
Eventually, I chose Türkiye.
ANTALYA
TÜRKIYE 2011
The important thing for me
was to choose a hotel
from where I could easily
have walked to several pharmacies.
I never switched off my mobile,
because I was worried
that if it had been off
and someone had called,
a Turkish voicemail would have answered.
On the 5th of September,
I went to the first pharmacy.
I show an EPO prescription
on a sheet of paper,
and 25 minutes later,
a boy comes on a scooter,
a thermal bag on the back
The EPO.
The crazy part was that
the pharmacist even offered me
a paper to accompany the drug,
in case I ran into problems at the border.
Leaving the pharmacy, I thought,
"It's really as easy
as I'd read on the internet."
On the other hand,
"What the fuck am I doing?"
Because the streets there
are full of tourists,
walking with an ice cream
and enjoying their holidays.
And I'm there to buy drugs.
We investigated meticulously,
but we didn't find any accomplices
in this mission to Türkiye,
where he purchased drugs
which he kept using up until 2012.
The case seemed strange,
so I was convinced
that Schwazer was covering for someone.
We deployed the best resources
we had access to.
Plus, WADA nominated Donati,
who was considered the guru
of international anti-doping.
The World Anti-Doping Agency
asked me to study
all the documents seized from Schwazer.
Donati was persistent in verifying
what Schwazer did before July 30th, 2012,
then we started going back,
scanning his entire career in sports,
all the way back
to his performances before Beijing.
personal best
and has the bronze medal.
Marvelous performances
in the heat of Osaka.
Gold medal for Alex Schwazer.
I even had
some doubts about Schwazer's victory
back at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
I am someone
who doesn't cheat.
I can assure you.
Many people kept wondering,
"Is it possible that an athlete
who used doping in 2012
hadn't used doping as well in 2008,
when he had won
with a blatant display of superiority?"
Given the doubts on his Olympic victory,
the WADA ordered for his urine
to be tested again,
but it showed
that he was completely clean.
During Beijing,
he was in contact with Conconi,
but nothing illegal was found.
So we decided the medal was legitimate.
I was struck by this fact.
I felt floored, proven wrong.
However, I still had suspicions
on the role of Michele Ferrari.
Donati was thorough.
He never left a stone unturned.
There had been contacts with Dr. Ferrari.
I remember Ferrari and Schwazer
once met in a camper.
And we investigated it,
but nothing came up
to tie it to these doping offenses
committed by Schwazer.
I told myself, "So you made a blunder.
Your accusation was baseless."
Since I had an ongoing lawsuit
and things were difficult,
Carolina wanted to take a break.
There are wounds that undermine
the very foundations of a relationship.
So, there's no need
to talk a lot about it,
or to fight.
Let's say I just needed to to look ahead.
Look to the future.
I was questioning things.
Because they always say,
you should be with a person,
for better or worse.
I was more interested in
getting out of the situation
I had suddenly found myself in,
which was causing me
a lot of distress and a lot of pain.
We broke up, but I still loved her.
Because for all these years,
I had always thought she would be
the love of my life.
We met for a simple tea
and to say goodbye.
Three years
and nine months, a heavy disqualification
ROME
23 APRIL 2013
inflicted on Alex Schwazer
by the sports tribunal.
Meanwhile, the criminal investigation
into the racewalker continues.
As for my criminal investigation,
I followed up as little as possible.
Because the sportsman in me
had been destroyed by then.
And it's a significant thing
for an Olympic champion.
But now, life awaits.
Time to discover life.
After I got caught, I felt liberated.
At 28, I started doing things
that others usually do after high school.
I applied to university,
with kids who were mostly
ten years younger than me,
and with a much
better background than mine.
I started from scratch.
I'll never forget my first class,
because I didn't understand anything.
During the summer break,
I stayed in Innsbruck,
and I took a summer job as a waiter.
I did all sorts of things.
I washed up. I served meals to people.
On a human level,
this experience enriched me.
It's what I was looking for.
A drastic change which would help me
understand certain things.
Then, one day, during a lesson
on sports medicine,
the issue of doping came up.
We were talking about doping in general,
and we got to discuss
famous cases of of doping.
There was Lance Armstrong, then others.
Suddenly, my photo came up.
I was surprised.
It was the picture of me in Beijing
at the finish line,
when I did this.
Just
instinctively.
I got up, I turned around
in front of everyone, I said,
"This is me."
I wasn't embarrassed. Not at all.
Because, in the meantime,
the image I had of sport
was gradually getting repaired.
I had started training again.
I was running and cycling.
I was reborn.
BOLZANO
JUNE 2013
During the investigation,
we learned Schwazer had a gray area
of individuals
who were interacting with him,
and who looked suspicious to us.
Some doctors of the federation,
namely Drs. Fischetto and Fiorella.
In particular, I remember
this email with Dr. Fiorella
where Schwazer was telling Dr. Fiorella
that in March 2012,
he had done some "stupid shit."
Those were literally his words.
The hypothesis of aiding and abetting
was starting to emerge.
The investigation immediately
took on a different angle,
with several people being investigated,
while, initially, the legal action
was exclusively focused on Schwazer.
So, we also started investigating
individuals who belonged
to the medical sector of the federation.
We carried out phone tappings,
searches, and confiscations.
There were some interesting wiretapped
comments made by Dr. Fischetto,
a collaborator of the anti-doping section
of the International Federation.
Hello?
Enzo, this is Giuseppe Fischetto.
- Giuseppe, hi. How are you?
- A bit pissed off with the law.
You probably heard they came to seize
our computers and everything.
Where? I don't know anything.
They came to me, to Fiorella.
It's about the Schwazer incident.
They're looking into the idea that someone
might have supported Schwazer.
While I was searching
for evidence to support the accusations
against Schwazer,
I came across a database
that was on two computers
belonging to Dr. Fischetto.
This database contained
an enormous archive
of results of over 12,000 tests
carried out by the International
Federation on athletes
from all over the world.
And I realized that many
of the values were anomalous.
Especially the Russians' tests.
Included were the most important
athletes of that time.
Weeks after passing the database
to the World Anti-Doping Agency,
many things should have happened.
Instead, nothing happened at all.
And that was glaring evidence
of the involvement of the Russians
in the insane case of doping.
At the same time,
it was proof of the involvement
of the International Federation
of Athletics in covering this doping.
I'm just worried
about the digital material,
about the whole confidential
international activity, you know?
Imagine if they got hold of the data
on the Russians, the Turks, or the others.
There'd be an international outcry.
This kraut has to be killed.
They have to Kostner,
who knew all about it for sure.
The Schwazer case,
the anti-doping tribunal
disqualified Carolina Kostner
for a year and four months
for complicity and reporting omission.
I am very disheartened
and very disappointed.
She won't be able to compete
in the Stockholm European Championships
or the Shanghai Worlds.
It was humiliating to have to
defend myself from those accusations.
Even though I knew
I had nothing to do with doping.
PRESIDENT OF CONI
According to sports law,
if you have knowledge of any members
allegedly using drugs of any kind,
you must immediately report them.
It is your duty to come forward,
or you will be held liable too.
The prosecutor is convinced
Carolina Kostner covered up
Schwazer's doping,
lying to anti-doping inspectors
who came looking for the racewalker
at her address in Germany,
in order to subject him to testing
before the 2012 Olympics.
Are the rules right or wrong?
Well, I didn't write the rules.
But we have to enforce them.
I wanted to go back to competitions
in high-level sport more than anything.
But I was a bit tired of constantly
hearing these accusations,
like I was a "serial doper."
I want to come back
and show everyone
ROME 2014
that I was clean
for my medal-level performances,
and I will be clean
for any performances from now on.
Returning to competitions
after an expulsion for doping
meant that I was supposed to do more.
So I said, "Okay, I'll be back
only if Donati trains me."
He thought that
the only credible way to come back
was with the man who had accused him.
I thought,
"You're saying I'm always doped?"
"Question yourself."
"I will question myself."
He messaged me,
saying that he wanted to talk to me.
But I wasn't at all convinced,
because, first of all,
some things had to be clarified.
It was about courage.
Both for me and him.
ROME
ITALY 2015
When Schwazer showed up
at my doorstep and came in,
we both definitely concealed our
feelings and tension.
It was like being questioned by a judge.
The first topic was my doping case.
I said, "Look,
I did the doping by myself."
"No one else injected me with a needle,
or told me how to do it."
"Otherwise I would have
done a transfusion."
"Which can't be detected."
"And which I never did."
That's what I said.
And he said, "Don't say that."
I said, "Yes, I'm saying it."
Anyway, Donati has never had
an easy temperament, you know?
I said, "It will take strength, courage,
and patience to go down this path."
Eventually, I realized
that he was guilty of certain things,
but not of others.
I started asking him
very specific questions,
making him extremely uncomfortable.
At some point, he burst out crying,
admitting he had taken the EPO
in the spring of 2012.
A perfect performance! It's stratospheric!
And that he had told
Fiorella about it.
Fiorella was the federation
doctor who very closely followed
middle-distance races and racewalking.
We met in Parma.
And there, I confessed everything to him.
Now, he could have chosen
not to say anything about these things,
because no one
had ever found him positive,
and the incident would have stayed buried.
So he was very honest with me.
Donati said, "I can't train you
unless you convince me, Schwazer,
that you are clean."
And that's what happened.
Fiorella never
directly helped me in doping,
nor provided the doping, or anything.
I did it, and that's it.
I made him think about
the fact that these people knew,
but remained on the sidelines. I told him,
"Look, you took more responsibility
than you needed to."
BOLZANO
8 AUGUST 2012
"You appeared
as the only offender in this story
while the others got away."
I just couldn't wait
for it to all be over.
"And these people acted
like you betrayed them."
"Like they were in pain because of you."
Donati informed us that Schwazer
was going to make further statements
about Dr. Fiorella,
which, in his opinion,
covered all the gray areas
where we had suspicions.
I probably stirred in him the decision
to report this fact to the judges.
So, it was painful, because
I still had some doubt
about whether I was
the only one responsible
or not.
I saw his desperation.
"Now you won't train me anymore,
you won't trust me anymore."
"No," I said, "I trust you because
you confessed this to me."
"I won't leave you alone
like the others have."
"In my eyes, you are an athlete
who needs help to recover,
and I'm a trainer who will help you."
The first thing
I remember he told me is,
"I'm going to do this for free."
Sounded good to me. Right?
Then, I remember a ton of ideas.
"We can do this, we must do that,
we have to do breathing exercises"
Really, boom, we got started.
It was great.
I had already taken on
the role of a coach,
who tried to light things up
with a torch in the dark,
to understand where to start from.
I asked him,
"Can you lean on the door of my house?"
"With your hands."
"Lean on one foot."
ROME
MARCH 2015
"And now start
bouncing lightly on that foot."
Try getting as high as you can.
Bravo.
Alex wasn't able to
lift his heel from the ground.
He was making a movement like this.
Very limited.
I'd never done this exercise before,
so I was terrible at it.
With my torch,
I had already lit up a key point,
because I had figured out
that he was lacking muscle efficiency
in a fundamental part of his body.
Like the wheels in a Formula 1 car,
so are feet for a racewalker.
After our training, I would've loved
to stay there, back in Rome.
Wake up the next day and get started.
Nice.
Great memories.
That's when he said,
"Feel free to take
all the tests you need."
It was him who said,
"I'll waive the one-hour window."
It's one thing if an athlete can only
be tested within an hourly timeframe.
just an hour.
Another thing
if he can be tested all the time.
I believe my transparency
was very important.
I set up a system
with the San Giovanni Hospital,
to which I gave full authority
to carry out tests on Schwazer
whenever they saw fit.
So, with these tests guaranteed,
Schwazer came to Rome to train with me.
Alex Schwazer
and Sandro Donati will work together
as the racewalker goes back to competing.
The press conference this morning.
Maybe we can get the message out again
that you can be good without doping.
A devil and an angel.
A man who had admitted to doping
and a man who fought against doping
joined together for the common goal
of succeeding at the Rio Olympic Games.
We'll lay our cards on
the table to make everything transparent.
SCHWAZER AND DONATI
THE CHALLENGE THAT CAUSES DISCUSSION
This odd couple,
once it formed, was met with mistrust
by the news and media outlets,
who believed that Sandro Donati,
in his egocentric desire
to reassert himself
after being marginalized
by the sporting world,
gets hold of a dangerous bomb,
and the name of this bomb
is Alex Schwazer.
Sandro put together a group
of people he had known for years
to help us.
I received this call
and he says, point-blank,
"Look, I'm going to train Schwazer.
I need your help."
"Your job will be to monitor
the technical aspects,
because I have background
in other sports, not racewalking."
And I was scared,
but I said yes.
They only did it out of passion.
Like Mario De Benedictis.
He regularly came all the way
from Pescara to follow my training.
We did it for free. I'd travel by
by bus, and pay for it by myself.
They never asked us for money.
They did it for free.
And this basically
involved everything,
because we believed this thing
was more precious than any other prize.
You know?
I felt obligated to make
their commitment worth it.
It was further motivation.
That's how I perceived it.
This was a rehabilitation operation.
Of the person first, then the athlete.
A rebirth in sport
is not all about results.
Beyond the sports project,
there's the life project.
Everything was new for Alex,
and Sandro too.
Sandro was used to working
with sprinters, not racewalkers.
It didn't bother me
that he wasn't a racewalking expert.
Because he brought
a lot of ideas and experience.
Alex worked hard. He trusted him fully.
He used to just
walk 40 kilometers,
every single day.
It's like if, on a piano keyboard,
you always played the same key.
Instead, I created a wider piano keyboard.
Go up by point four.
The first time, he suggested
I train in resistance and speed.
So very short distances at high speed.
Last 700.
Then we moved to longer distances.
One thousand meters,
two thousand, three thousand,
five thousand.
Two hundred more. You're doing great.
I was surprised by the training,
but I put myself entirely
in Sandro's hands.
In this way, within a few weeks,
I started to improve
his performance on longer distances.
What surprised me is,
I reached the point
I was running fast in all distances.
Even 5,000.
So, obviously,
you could hear music now,
not a repetitive thing
played on a single key.
This athlete was emerging,
with all his extraordinary abilities.
The improvements are amazing,
and he realizes Alex is performing better
than he was eight years before.
At that point, I felt encouraged
to be less formal,
so I started calling him Alex.
At first, I would call him "sir,"
then we switched to first names,
then I started calling him "the Prof."
I saw him as a professor.
He's always studying every single number.
So, "Professor"
just seems fitting, you know?
- Bye, Alex.
- Bye.
By fall of 2015, I'd been training
with Schwazer for half a year.
And his growth had been impressive.
He said,
"To wrap up this first season together,
let's do a test
so we can verify it."
We had to test him on the track.
But how can I do that since he's not
allowed to run on the track?
We decided to use
the Tagliacozzo track, in Abruzzo,
which was a sort of "deconsecrated" track,
in a sports sense.
It was, let's say, a bit run-down,
but it was good enough for us.
TAGLIACOZZO
24 SEPTEMBER 2015
Initially, I thought
he'd stop after one kilometer.
The first kilometer took
three minutes and 38 seconds.
Those in the business know
that's a crazy start.
Slow down. Slow down a lot, Alex.
Yeah, he walked better
in the second half than the first half.
Bravo, Alex! 1.36.
Alex, you have to give us
an incredible finish. Go on!
It was so gratifying
to be able to walk again
in a way that reminded me
of a competition.
Go, Alex!
I saw
a superior walker than the Alex
trained by Damilano eight years before,
and he could have achieved
any result in sport,
surely at world level.
27:58:02. We're five seconds
behind the world record.
A lot of people should think about this,
but they won't.
A second-best world performance.
- Of all time?
- Yes.
Actually, he would
have made the best world performance,
but that day it was very windy.
So, this is the first test we needed.
Sandro was excited by all of this.
Understandably. But, in hindsight,
perhaps, I think they could have
tried to avoid showing
that there was almost no game.
The next day,
we were attacked by Luciano Barra.
The man who would
obsessively and relentlessly try
in every possible and conceivable way
to prevent Schwazer
from returning to compete.
He claimed that
this training test was, in reality,
a race that violated
his disqualification period.
I'd never heard of this Luciano Barra
before meeting Donati.
Later, when I learned
about Sandro's story,
I understood who he was.
I understood he'll never stop
sowing hatred,
as much as possible,
into everything Donati did.
I mean, Luciano Barra
The Evangelisti case alone,
at the Rome World Championships of '87,
someone like him should just keep quiet.
ROME 1987
WORLD LONG JUMP FINAL
The entire
audience is here for Giovanni Evangelisti.
An extraordinary journey
at the Europeans and the Olympics,
where he earned a bronze medal.
That afternoon,
the competition had started a bit weird,
compared to the ones we usually organized.
In some jumps,
the post had been incorrectly placed,
shortening the jump distance.
Before Evangelisti's jump, we saw
chairman of the federation, Luciano Barra,
take an international judge by the arm
from the long jump platform,
and bring him
to another part of the field.
So, basically, with this move,
Barra left the Italian judges
alone by the platform.
Here's Evangelisti, really focused
for his sixth and final attempt.
Giovanni looked disappointed.
He was expecting to do a better jump.
I was really surprised
when a judge came around
and approached him.
"Wait. Just a moment. Don't despair.
Wait. Look at that."
And he pointed at the board,
where, after a few seconds,
a score of 8.38 meters lit up.
It's a good jump. 8.38 meters.
A bronze medal for Evangelisti.
I knew that
that measure was implausible.
Knowing it was fake,
I wanted to measure it again.
So I went there to protect the footprint,
but the national chairman of judges
entered the pit and stepped on it.
How did you feel
when the scoreboard lit up
with that number, 8.38?
I felt alone,
facing something bigger than me.
As soon as I left the stadium,
a judge asked me
what the heck had we done.
I told him, "I didn't do anything.
It's there for all to see."
I reported the case,
and an investigation was opened.
Then the head of the commission told me,
"Look, Donati, everyone is denying
everything here."
"I'm fully aware they're lying,
but you're basically finished."
"You either come up with hard proof,
or you're fired."
So, I gathered clues and testimonies.
Eventually, an old
competition judge tells me,
"Two young judges want to talk to you."
Everybody told me to mind my own business
and not say what happened.
I met with them discreetly,
since they were scared.
I told him to find
the footage of that day,
because it would show
exactly what happened.
So, we went to the RAI,
and we found those tapes.
It was a turning point
in finding out the truth.
These posts are placed immediately
after the athlete's jump,
and in a few seconds, they provide
the exact measure of the event.
VIDEO CASSETTE RECORDING NO. 9, RAI
The footage revealed that
the judge had placed the post
in the desired position
before Evangelisti actually jumped.
Which meant the result was fake.
So, I told the investigation committee,
"Look, there's a videotape."
"It proves everything."
Two days later, the tape went missing.
But it didn't matter,
because I had mentioned
the same tape to Gianni Minà,
who had it duplicated by a friend
and broadcast it in prime time.
This is
never-before-seen footage,
not broadcast during the championships.
TV images that can help the investigation
of one of the most controversial cases
of recent times.
So, I avoided
being fired, but obviously,
there was no longer room for me
as a national trainer.
Donati has always sided with people
trying to expose the cheaters.
Especially
if the cheaters
were going to get away with it.
Everyone held a grudge against me.
And Barra lost his job for a while.
New developments
in the case of Evangelisti's rigged jump.
For the first time
in the history of athletics,
a medal has been revoked.
One day I showed up,
and my office had been emptied.
They put my stuff in a closet.
They were literally trying to bury me.
This hatred against him
has no expiration date.
They keep attacking him.
CALICE
ITALY 2015
I was very happy then.
I met a wonderful woman
who made me feel excited to be around.
Come to me, don't be afraid.
A bit more.
Alex was training in Rome.
He was feeling great.
Plus, he was in love,
and everything was nice.
When you meet the right person,
you can't make plans anymore.
When I went back for Christmas,
we'd see each other
every day at her place.
But he never stopped training.
Even during the holidays.
It was his dream to show
the whole world that
he'd come back.
BOLZANO
16 DECEMBER 2015
An important trial
has started in Bolzano today.
The defendants are Pierluigi Fiorella
and Giuseppe Fischetto,
doctors for
the Italian Athletics Federation.
In the afternoon, Alex Schwazer
was called to testify as a witness.
Schwazer openly admitted
his responsibility,
so we closed the legal proceedings
against Schwazer.
But if there's a whole world around him
that can benefit from his results
and favors him,
it's only fair that these individuals
are also prosecuted.
With Sandro Donati, I thought deeply
about the anti-doping system.
This led him to provide
a complete statement,
admitting the use of testosterone in 2011
and the use of EPO in 2012,
and that he had told
Mr. Fiorella about it.
I told him about the EPO.
How I had taken it.
And the benefits I had felt.
I remember that
we talked about
where more benefits were felt,
if on 20 or 50 kilometers.
If I had known what
was going on behind the scenes,
I would have said it sooner.
So, what I read in the legal records
is that Fischetto's database,
the database of shame,
Fiorella knew about it.
So he knew everything.
Okay?
And he didn't do anything.
I believe they are
far more guilty than what I did.
And I'm not justifying what I did.
The Schwazer affair went further.
It ended up involving, for reasons
I still to this day can't fathom,
several other people at different levels.
CALICE
1 JANUARY 2016
January 1st, Alex was forced to drug test.
The International Athletics Federation
had ordered another anti-doping check.
We didn't know why.
I had never been checked
on the 1st of January.
They were regularly
doing anti-doping checks on me.
He jokingly says to me,
"Prof, it's the 1st of January,
and they have nothing better to do
than come test me?"
Why aren't checks done on January 1st?
Because the lab is closed.
So, if you test on the 1st,
you have to hold the urine for a day.
So you do it on the 2nd.
Or you do it on the 31st.
It was a bad sign.
Something suspicious was going on.