Ah Mother Russia why play on an even playing field when a warped one will do just fine? Not to turn a blind eye to the other countries of the world who dope their athletes but USSR, you gots caught! As we depart that juggernaut known as the Olympics (the Winter Olympics just wrapped in South Korea), now more than ever doping (& to an equal measure sexual harassment) is foremost in most people's minds but not really enough to cancel the spectacle. This incisive doc has an interesting thru line which is derailed when the jig's up so a lone scientist risks life, limb & career to voice the deception that has apparently been going on since the 60's. The truth of the matter is that people are more excited about the Olympics than actually doing something about it. I don't know which side will finally give...we'll see.

It reminds me a lot of the Snowden incident, however instead of national security, the topic is the Russian state sanctioned doping. It takes place behind the scenes of the Russian scientist that happens to be the mastermind behind it all.The initial purpose of the documentary was to discover how easy it would be to dope yourself and then pass the doping test. For this the documentarian dopes himself with the help of a Russian scientist which over the course of the documentary becomes his close friend. However he is later is discovered and revealed as the mastermind behind the decades long state sanctioned doping programme in Russia. This later culminates in the banning of Russia from participating in the Olympic games. The documentary shows everything from the start to the end, from the inside.

The movie started out like any other documentary, a cyclist ( Bryan Fogel) wanting to tell a story of how someone can cheat the system. So he hires the best of the best (Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov) , the director of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory. This movie goes ways beyond sports or or sport doping. It is a gripping moment by moment of events leading up to Russia being banned from the 2018 Olympics. It should be an eye opener for anyone who minimizes hoe evil Putin is. Winner of the 2018 Academy Award for best documentary

Very funny to see that the negative reviews are written by people with Russian names. They probably can't stand it to be accused of cheating. I'm not a Russian nor an American, I just love sports. I'm 100% positive that American athletes are also big cheaters, like any other nation actually. The proof is that ridiculous decision at the end to finally still let the Russian delegation participate at the Rio Olympics. That's a proof the whole system is just corrupt to the bone. The IOC is just a farce. Politics winning against sportive achievements. The documentary is very well made, with stunning interviews and footage. Once part of the cheating system as one of the main characters in this fraud to whistle blower, Grigory Rodchenkov comes up with proof on how the system is corrupt. It becomes clear that the vast majority uses doping all the time, and that in any sport. It kinda makes you wonder why even bother to watch those sporting events. I stopped watching cyclism a long time ago since it is obvious they all use doping. It's just humanly impossible to do what they do in their sport. But for the government to allow and even sponsor this scam, in this documentary Russia, is just unbelievable. Well unbelievable is a big word, nothing surprises me anymore. Long live the amateur sports. Too bad for the few athletes that refuse to take doping, they will never win anything and that while they are just better than those cheaters, mentally and physically.