A doping that can't be more "do it yourself". Without saying anything to anyone, alone, first getting information on the internet and then facing (always alone) a long journey to Turkey, to Antalya, where in any pharmacy (“In Italy, as you know, a prescription is required, there if you pay well they don't make a problem") bought synthetic erythropoietin worth 1.500 euros. "Then I had injections from July 13 to 29, without telling anyone."
This is the heartfelt but still not entirely convincing reconstruction of a literally shocked Alex Schwazer, who presented himself today at a press conference in Bolzano in front of hundreds of journalists to tell his truth about the doping scandal that is engulfing him. The South Tyrolean athlete, gold medal in Beijing 2008 in the 50 km walk, was in fact found positive in a surprise check carried out by Wada, the world anti-doping agency, on 30 July. Just in the aftermath of the last, fatal injection. For this reason Schwazer was immediately excluded by Coni from the Olympics underway in London, and now risks a long disqualification even if, according to him, his career ends here anyway.
But the runner's troubles won't end here: in addition to the Epo positivity that emerged in the antipoding check, Alex is at the center of a wider investigation, coordinated by Wada, Interpol and the Padua Public Prosecutor's Office, which involves the Professor Michele Ferrari, for years in the crosshairs of anti-doping (also Lance Armstrong turned to him) and to whom Schwazer had turned in 2009. “Ferrari? I know him, but that I took drugs from him, and that I had already doped in 2010 was not true. I contacted him in 2009 when I retired. In 2010 I managed myself, I only asked him for technical advice for training, and then all doping tests done were negative. And I haven't heard from him since the beginning of 2011”.
That's not all, though. Schwazer's historic gold medal in Beijing also risks being questioned, when he came out absolutely clean and won an extraordinary race, complete with an Olympic record. The IOC communications director, Mark Adams, has in fact already communicated that the urine samples taken from the South Tyrolean after that victory could be subjected to new analyses. “If the IOC wants to re-evaluate my data after Beijing, that's fine, there are no traces of doping. But the phenomenon is large. In Russia there is a coach in whose team out of eight athletes five were found positive, but here in Italy Ferrari is the problem. I say that after the positivity there is only disqualification for life. And I don't want discounts."
Schwazer then continued, even bursting into tears, in the dramatic story of the choice that is destroying his racing career and perhaps even his life: "I didn't even say anything to Carolina (Kostner, his girlfriend, ed) and to my parents, I didn't want involve anyone. These three weeks have been terrible. Every night I got up at 2, 3, 4, 5 in the morning because I knew that from 6 the anti-doping control could arrive and I had to tell my girlfriend not to open, otherwise I was positive. When they rang my house on Monday the 30th, I knew it was anti-doping, but I didn't have the strength to tell my mother that I wasn't there because in 18 months I could even skip one and I've never done it, but I couldn't take it anymore: I couldn't wait for it all to end. And in any case, even without Wada I would never have had the courage to go for the 50 km at the London Games".
The 28-year-old race walker then went back in time to explain why he drifted: "Last year, after 3 very tough years for me, after the European Championships I also said that I had no emotions and I could have quit. At the end of 2011 after a troubled season I had to make decisions, but with the Olympics ahead I was no longer lucid and I could not say no to this temptation to dope to get ready for London 2012. I'm sorry, I made this big mistake ”.
Finally, the human drama and thanksgiving to the Carabinieri, who will now be forced to leave: "You don't know how many times at home I said I wanted to stop and everyone told me I had to go on, that I had the potential to be stronger . Pressures and sacrifices. You have no idea how many sacrifices it takes for a single race, that if it goes badly you're an asshole. I no longer wanted to be judged for a performance. I was fed up: I dream of a normal life and job". “Carabinieri? Now I'm going to Bologna, I have to return my gun and card, but without them at 18 I wouldn't have been able to do this sport. Without the carabinieri, professionalism in minor sports does not exist. I have disappointed many people and they are among them, I apologize to them, to my girlfriend and to my family".
