“Icarus” Review

By: Michael Sweeney

Icarus is a movie about the how sports journalism can completely turn over sports. Icarus starts out as an experiment for Bryan Fogel. He wants to dope and see if he can win an amateur cycling event without getting caught. He gets the help of Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory at the time. What followed changed not only cycling, but all Olympic sports all together. It is discovered that Russia has a state-sponsored Olympic doping program.  Because of sports journalism, Fogel, with the help of Rodchenkov, was able to discover something much more than he originally hoped.

This documentary was an incredibly effective use of sports journalism. One of the biggest ways it succeeded was that there were cold hard facts. Sports journalism is truly an incredible thing. Fogel’s original goal was to see if he could beat a doping test. What happened after that was crazy. This is the power of journalism. One of the biggest story lines that made this documentary very effective was the story of Grigory Rodchenkov. Since he was the head of the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory he was not only putting his livelihood on the line, but his life. Throughout the documentary his life was in danger. This was a storyline that was relevant through the entire documentary.

The other storyline that was very intriguing was Fogel’s progress through his regime. From the first race, he did clean to the race after he doped. It was intriguing seeing his progress. While the final results of the last race did not show it, the doping was certainly effective. One storyline that was truly the main part of the film was how Fogel started to uncover more and more when it came to the Russian doping scandal. It started with some evidence, and then boom. Fogel and Rodchenkov were at the center of a worldwide controversy.

Icarus was not only an interesting film, but it showed excellent sports journalism. As the film progressed, we saw Fogel find more and more tidbits of information and with the help of Rodchenkov, he was able to uncover a state wide doping program.