Per Netflix\u2019s description, Running for My Truth tracks Schwazer\u2019s career from \u201cgolden boy of Italian sport to national disappointment\u201d, his return to competition and the latest behind his most recent ban \u2013 but who is Alex Schwazer and where is he now?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s everything you need to know about the true story behind Netflix\u2019s latest sporting docuseries.<\/p>\n
Who is Alex Schwazer?<\/strong><\/h2>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Alex Schwazer<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nAlex Schwazer is an Italian race walker and Olympic gold medallist who retired from the sport after being disqualified from the 2012 Olympic Games over doping offences.<\/p>\n
Born in Sterzing, South Tyrol, Schwazer began his professional race walking career in 2005 after winning a bronze medal in the 50km race at the 2005 World Championships.<\/p>\n
He went on to break several Italian records, winning the Gran Premio Citt\u00e0 di Lugano in 2010 and the Memorial Mario Albisetto 20km walk in 2012, after picking up a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 European Championships.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old was due to compete in the 2012 Olympics 50km race walk, however he was disqualified from the London Games after the World Anti-Doping Agency found that his drugs test delivered \u201can adverse result\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a mistake. My career is finished,\u201d Schwazer told Italian news agency Ansa (via Reuters<\/a>) at the time. \u201cI wanted to be stronger for this Olympics, I made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\nThe athlete was suspended for three years and nine months after failing the doping test and admitting to using the blood-boosting hormone EPO<\/a>, resulting in the Italian Olympic Committee launching an investigation into the incident in 2014 as well as an eight-month suspended prison term and a \u20ac6,000 fine<\/a>.<\/p> Schwazer returned to race walking in 2016, winning the 50km race at the World Championships in May. However, a month later, his doping sample from January was re-tested by the World Athletics organisation, which found traces of anabolic steroid testosterone and provisionally suspended Schwazer from competing for another eight years.<\/p>\n
The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected his appeal for the suspension<\/a> and said in a statement: \u201cThe CAS sanctioned him with an eight-year period of ineligibility starting on the date of today, less any period of provisional suspension effectively served as of 8 July 2016.<\/p>\n\u201cAll competitive results obtained by Alex Schwazer from and including 1 January 2016 are disqualified with all resulting consequences, including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schwazer claimed that he \u201cdidn\u2019t make any error\u201d, with his lawyer Gerhard Brandstaetter saying at the time<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s strange. A test in January comes back negative then in May after he wins in Rome it becomes positive with anabolic substances that don\u2019t have anything to do with endurance sports.<\/p>\n\u201cAlex doesn\u2019t have anything to do with this case. We\u2019ll fight with all of our strength so that the truth comes out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schwazer always asserted his innocence and in February 2021, a Bolzano court ruled that it was \u201chighly likely\u201d<\/a> that his samples had been interfered with to produce a positive test, claiming that Schwazer \u201cdid not commit the crime\u201d.<\/p>\nThe World Anti-Doping Agency strongly hit back at the ruling by saying it was \u201cappalled by the multiple reckless and groundless allegations made by the judge against the organisation and other parties to this case\u201d.<\/p>\n
In April 2022, after seeking an expert opinion and further studies from the Athletics Integrity Unit, WADA confirmed its position<\/a> that Schwazer\u2019s 1st January 2016 sample had not been subject to any form of manipulation.<\/p>\nWhere is Alex Schwazer now?<\/strong><\/h2>\nAfter the Bolzano court\u2019s ruling, Schwazer sought to overturn his eight-year ban at the Swiss Federal Tribunal, however the appeal was rejected, with the court saying that \u201cthere [were] no conditions\u201d<\/a> for the disqualification\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\nSchwazer was therefore unable to take part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to his ban still being in place.<\/p>\n
Last year, Schwazer took his case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that the Swiss Federal Tribunal\u2019s decision not to review the CAS ban infringed the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to offer him any opportunity to challenge his doping ban despite an Italian court concluding that he was innocent.<\/p>\n
According to Play the Game<\/a>, the filing passed the assessment under Article 27 of the ECHR and has been assigned a case number.<\/p>\nAs of 12th April 2023, Schwazer\u2019s application to the European Court of Human Rights is still awaiting its first judicial decision.<\/p>\n
Schwazer appears in Running for My Truth \u2013 Netflix\u2019s four-part documentary about his sporting controversies and the political-judicial cases behind his competition ban.<\/p>\n
Running for My Truth is streaming now on Netflix. <\/strong>Sign up for Netflix from \u00a34.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on\u00a0Sky Glass<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\nCheck out more of our\u00a0Documentaries<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\nTry Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only \u00a31 with delivery to your home \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0<\/strong>The Radio Times Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Italian athlete opens up about his doping allegations in Netflix’s Running for My Truth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":32070,"template":"","categories":[6,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-scaled.jpg",2560,1706,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Italian athlete opens up about his doping allegations in Netflix's Running for My Truth.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/32069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/AlexSchwazerRunningformyTruthUpscaled00323722-d759478.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C394"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Alex Schwazer is an Italian race walker and Olympic gold medallist who retired from the sport after being disqualified from the 2012 Olympic Games over doping offences.<\/p>\n
Born in Sterzing, South Tyrol, Schwazer began his professional race walking career in 2005 after winning a bronze medal in the 50km race at the 2005 World Championships.<\/p>\n
He went on to break several Italian records, winning the Gran Premio Citt\u00e0 di Lugano in 2010 and the Memorial Mario Albisetto 20km walk in 2012, after picking up a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 European Championships.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old was due to compete in the 2012 Olympics 50km race walk, however he was disqualified from the London Games after the World Anti-Doping Agency found that his drugs test delivered \u201can adverse result\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a mistake. My career is finished,\u201d Schwazer told Italian news agency Ansa (via Reuters<\/a>) at the time. \u201cI wanted to be stronger for this Olympics, I made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n The athlete was suspended for three years and nine months after failing the doping test and admitting to using the blood-boosting hormone EPO<\/a>, resulting in the Italian Olympic Committee launching an investigation into the incident in 2014 as well as an eight-month suspended prison term and a \u20ac6,000 fine<\/a>.<\/p> Schwazer returned to race walking in 2016, winning the 50km race at the World Championships in May. However, a month later, his doping sample from January was re-tested by the World Athletics organisation, which found traces of anabolic steroid testosterone and provisionally suspended Schwazer from competing for another eight years.<\/p>\n The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected his appeal for the suspension<\/a> and said in a statement: \u201cThe CAS sanctioned him with an eight-year period of ineligibility starting on the date of today, less any period of provisional suspension effectively served as of 8 July 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cAll competitive results obtained by Alex Schwazer from and including 1 January 2016 are disqualified with all resulting consequences, including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n Schwazer claimed that he \u201cdidn\u2019t make any error\u201d, with his lawyer Gerhard Brandstaetter saying at the time<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s strange. A test in January comes back negative then in May after he wins in Rome it becomes positive with anabolic substances that don\u2019t have anything to do with endurance sports.<\/p>\n \u201cAlex doesn\u2019t have anything to do with this case. We\u2019ll fight with all of our strength so that the truth comes out.\u201d<\/p>\n Schwazer always asserted his innocence and in February 2021, a Bolzano court ruled that it was \u201chighly likely\u201d<\/a> that his samples had been interfered with to produce a positive test, claiming that Schwazer \u201cdid not commit the crime\u201d.<\/p>\n The World Anti-Doping Agency strongly hit back at the ruling by saying it was \u201cappalled by the multiple reckless and groundless allegations made by the judge against the organisation and other parties to this case\u201d.<\/p>\n In April 2022, after seeking an expert opinion and further studies from the Athletics Integrity Unit, WADA confirmed its position<\/a> that Schwazer\u2019s 1st January 2016 sample had not been subject to any form of manipulation.<\/p>\n After the Bolzano court\u2019s ruling, Schwazer sought to overturn his eight-year ban at the Swiss Federal Tribunal, however the appeal was rejected, with the court saying that \u201cthere [were] no conditions\u201d<\/a> for the disqualification\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\n Schwazer was therefore unable to take part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to his ban still being in place.<\/p>\n Last year, Schwazer took his case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that the Swiss Federal Tribunal\u2019s decision not to review the CAS ban infringed the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to offer him any opportunity to challenge his doping ban despite an Italian court concluding that he was innocent.<\/p>\n According to Play the Game<\/a>, the filing passed the assessment under Article 27 of the ECHR and has been assigned a case number.<\/p>\n As of 12th April 2023, Schwazer\u2019s application to the European Court of Human Rights is still awaiting its first judicial decision.<\/p>\n Schwazer appears in Running for My Truth \u2013 Netflix\u2019s four-part documentary about his sporting controversies and the political-judicial cases behind his competition ban.<\/p>\n Running for My Truth is streaming now on Netflix. <\/strong>Sign up for Netflix from \u00a34.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on\u00a0Sky Glass<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of our\u00a0Documentaries<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only \u00a31 with delivery to your home \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0<\/strong>The Radio Times Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n The Italian athlete opens up about his doping allegations in Netflix’s Running for My Truth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":32070,"template":"","categories":[6,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-scaled.jpg",2560,1706,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/04\/who-is-alex-schwazer-true-story-behind-netflixs-running-for-my-truth-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Italian athlete opens up about his doping allegations in Netflix's Running for My Truth.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/32069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Where is Alex Schwazer now?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"