“The country’s shameful refusal to accept responsibility for state-sponsored doping at the Sochi Games has been exposed. Before watching Usain Bolt and Mo Farah in action on Friday I watched the film Icarus, which was released by Netflix last week. At the Olympic stadium the show was slick and dramatic — Farah stumbling on the final lap; Bolt stumbling after rising from the blocks and losing momentum. It is how Hollywood likes to portray sport: triumph over adversity. The Jamaican may be the greatest sprinter ever, Farah the most complete endurance runner. To understand why they are heroes in a show that is no longer on Broadway, you need to see Icarus and feel the cynicism that underpins the story it tells. Like so many worthwhile stories, it is far from uplifting. Icarus is a two-hour documentary about how Russia cheated sport,…”
