Former German professional cyclist Jan Ullrich is no longer afraid to talk about the dark side of the industry from the past.
The winner of the prestigious Tour de France in 1997 started last year with the documentary film Der Gejagte (translated as The Hunted, note) and now in an interview with the German media he said that he can now “talk about it with his children”. This was pointed out by the website insidethegames.biz.
“The documentary was a kind of therapy for me,” said the 50-year-old Ullrich. In an interview with the national broadcaster WDR, he also revealed his stance on systematic doping during his active career.
The German first listened to what his eternal rival Lance Armstrong, who admitted to doping after retiring from active sports, had to say about all this.
“People need to understand that doping was systemic. The sponsors knew everything. I was well paid, but I wouldn’t call it silence. It was a mutual agreement not to talk about it,” Ullrich revealed.
He was one of the best cyclists of his time, winning the Vuelta a Espana, among other things, becoming the 2000 Olympic champion in Sydney 2000 and a two-time world time trial champion. But his career overlapped with cycling’s worst doping era, when scandals repeatedly tarnished the sport’s reputation.
In the documentary Der Gejagte, Ullrich openly admitted that doping was part of his life and career. The French Senate even compiled a list of 30 riders who tested positive for doping during the 1998 Tour de France, when Ullrich finished second to Italy’s Marco Pantani. And the German rider was on that list.
“I had to change something in my life, so I decided to talk about it. The heaviness has lifted from me and I can go on,” remarked Ullrich. After the end of his career, his life was complicated by drugs and alcohol, which brought him almost to the bottom. He faced scandals in Spain and even Lance Armstrong became interested in his health and helped him.
Today they are good friends and support each other. The aforementioned documentary also contains interviews with important personalities of the time, including the Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who was involved in the Operation Puerto scandal. Fuentes said in the documentary, “People have been asking me about the miracle recipe for being a champion. However, a mule cannot be transformed into a racehorse.”
The premiere of the documentary took place in November 2023, but new statements have rekindled the fight against doping. Cycling suffered from it more than any other sport. Doping was also common in athletics, boxing and even in sports such as archery and shooting.
Technology has often outpaced the rules, leading to the introduction of new hard-to-detect substances. Systemic doping and omertà, i.e. the code of secrecy, were firmly entrenched. But the sanctions were gradually tightened and the situation was brought under control.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
