LE FIGARO. - Are you afraid that the current confinement opens the door to doping?
Kevin MAYER . - Honestly, I already knew that there were athletes who managed to get through the cracks… So let's say that those who wanted to cheat were already doing it.
But aren't the cracks currently widened?
Yes, completely. I have not been checked for a month and a half and I do not remember the last time I had lived such a long period without a visit from a controller. So yes, frankly, it scares me. I know that the International Federation is talking about not validating all possible Olympic qualifications carried out by the end of December so as not to favor those who could dope during confinement. But alas, doping is not a reality until these six months ...
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Does this add stress in an already complicated period?
I try not to think about it and focus on myself. I tell myself that if I work properly in training, doped or not opposite, I would be able to beat them.
Do you think, like Mélina Robert-Michon, that doping, even for two or three months before quitting, has long-term effects on improving performance?
Yes, it is a certainty, even if we are still waiting for it to be scientifically proven. When the body has expressed itself at a certain level, the nervous system registers and it becomes easier to repeat it, even without repeating the products taken before.
"Honestly, it's boring to have to think about doping because we are in a terrible health crisis"
Kevin MayerIs the only bulwark against this drift the biological passport?
Yes, this is the only solution. This is why I entered this program. After that, we would have to succeed in finding a way to prove directly, thanks to this biological passport, that there was doping, and not just create a suspicion, a doubt. It would be a real revolution in the fight against doping.
Do you have more pronounced concerns for your discipline, the decathlon?
No not necessarily. I think of all sports, and more specifically athletics in general, not just decathlon. I do not know the situation of other disciplines ... (He reflects) Honestly, it's boring to have to think about this now because we are in a terrible health crisis, with thousands of people succumbing to the coronavirus. There are much bigger problems than doping but, at the same time, it cannot be denied that there will be some who will jump at the chance. These people, these cheaters have no brains. I put them lower than the ground. Let them go get results while being doped. If they take advantage of a dramatic situation like this, it is their choice of life, which is pathetic. No doubt they are not happy in their life and that they need something that they cannot get properly. In the end, I pity them more than anything else…
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