Doping: the Ugly Truth About the Sports Industry

The Dark Side – Secrets of the Sports Dopers

Al Jazeera (2015)

Film Review

The Dark Side is a 2015 documentary about the health professionals who assist Olympics and professional athletes acquire performance enhancing drugs, as well as helping them avoid detection on drug testing. Liam Collins, a British track star, goes undercover for Al Jazeera and easily obtains growth hormone, insulin, EPO (erythropoetin)*, HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), clomiphene and Delta-2 and other anabolic steroids from unscrupulous doctors, naturopaths (who have prescribing authority in the US and Canada) and pharmacists. He also learns the name of prominent baseball and NFL players who are illegally using these banned substances.

Prior to the release of this documentary, an estimated 40% of professional baseball players were using banned substances. In the past baseball authorities have been somewhat lackadaisical about drug testing. Public interest in baseball was flagging, and the big increase in home runs turned this around.

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*EPO stimulates red blood cells, enabling the blood to carry more oxygen.

**HCG, a pregnancy hormone that stimulates placental development, increases testosterone in men.

***Chlomiphene is an anti-estrogen that stimulates ovulation in infertile women. In men, it accelerates testosterone production.

2020 Olympics: Fukushima to Host Baseball/Softball

Photo credit: Steve Herman Wikimedia Commons

Hundreds of Ultra Fit Athletes and Thousands of International Visitors to be Irradiated in 2020

What’s wrong with this picture? In what utterly corrupt and debased universe could this possibly happen?

According to the Japan Times, Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizers have given the green light for disaster-affected Fukushima Prefecture to host baseball and softball games. The position of Japan’s government is that Fukushima has been “decontaminated” by removing five centimeters (a little under two inches) of topsoil and placing it in gigantic plastic bags.

Independent radiation measurements by Greenpeace (see video below) suggest that radiation levels remain extremely high and hazardous to human health. Despite this fact, the Japanese government are pressuring Fukushima refugees to return to their homes later this year by discontinuing their government assistance.

Some international observers question whether the decision to hold the 2020 Olympics in Japan is part of the on-going cover-up of the ongoing radiation risk posed by the ongoing core meltdowns at Fukushima that continue to spew radiation into the air, groundwater and Pacific Ocean.

At present, French prosecutors are investigating the Japanese Olympic Committee for a 2.8 million Singapore dollars bribe linked to the 2013 decision to award them the 2020 Olympics.