Mat Fraser on Doping in the Olympics

But it's like USA is one of very few countries that competes clean. And so it's like, how do you compete? You know? Yeah. So he had this outside pressure to like produce an athlete, whether it was the right way or wrong way. Isn't that fucked up, that statement that you just said, but I know it to be true. When you said the USA is one of the few countries that competes clean, it's actually true. Oh, it's... And so strange. I remember at the junior world that I competed at that, the winning guy in my weight class snatched more than what I clean and jerked. Like this, like 18 year old kid and he like power snatched 155 kilos. It was crazy. Where's it from? I want to say he was. Like somewhere over in Europe and I'm pretty sure it was like the whole podium got popped. It's kind of like I remember like the 2008 Olympics, like the 94 kilo class, they started testing down and it's like, like currently it's like ninth place guy has the bronze metal because they just kept testing down, down, down. So did they pop them right after the competition or they pop them? I think it's like years later because it's like at the time with the drug, they don't know how to test for. Right. And so they save the samples and then years later they figure out how to test for this stuff. Did you see Icarus? I watched like the first bit of it. Yeah, I haven't seen the whole thing yet. It's fucking nuts. Yeah, it's nuts. I mean, it's just crazy. Like if there's a sport with money, people are going to start bringing drugs into it. Well, the crazy thing about that was it was a Russian state sponsor. They sponsored the entire dope. They doped everyone. That guy Gregory Rachinkov. Yeah, the guy who is the supposed anti-doping guy from Russia. He said the only people they didn't dope were the figure skaters because they found that the figure skating, it actually interfered with fine motor skills. Really? Yeah. So so made the women too manly. So kind of funny about that. My parents were both figure skaters. Whoa. And so they're both Olympians. 1976. Like, no, yeah, Paris Freestyle. And my dad talks about like he would be in the locker room and like different countries. They he was like, they just had their syringes on the on the bench. Oh my God. And he was like, you come in after your session on the ice and he's like the German team is just there like. Like they're not even hiding it because it was legal. It didn't test. Yeah, they didn't know. Right. You know, but the American team did that too back then supposedly. Oh, really? Yeah. I was reading this thing about Bruce Jenner where they're talking about all the shit that they gave him when he was winning the decathlon and then they gave shit to every apparently post when it was post the Eastern Europeans winning like a lot of weightlifting competitions. And then it was clear that they were experiencing experimenting with different steroids. I remember reading the article like they were testing it at York Barbell and like I remember reading these journal entries from the lifters and some they they were bolting the bars like to the ground or to squat racks and they would take the drugs and then just push on the bars as hard as they can because their theory is like the heaviest bar. You can lift is the one you cannot and it was like, huh? And some of these lifters are saying like, yo, these pills or these injections are where everything is coming from like this is where all my gains are coming from and then others were like, no, it's the training methodology like the drugs have nothing to do with it. I'm just hitting all these personal records. Yeah, maybe a little bit of both. I think I think I know which one which one's helping out. Sure. Sure. But I mean, you know, you don't just take the drugs doesn't make you stronger. You have to actually lift the weights. Yeah. For sure. The drugs are helping. Like this the idea that the drugs don't help. I've actually seen someone argue that before. Oh, I that steroids are useless and if you train properly, they actually get in the way. I was like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? I mean, there's been a couple of people that like in CrossFit that got popped and they're like, oh, the drugs weren't even doing anything and it's like, oh, silly boy. Of course they were. Yeah, they work. There's a reason why they're so prevalent and there's a reason why they test for them. Yeah, they don't test for things that don't work. They're not testing you for Cheerios. You know, they're just testing you for shit. They're really work. I mean, like the one guy the one guy that he was on the podium at the games and then got popped. I competed against him month like six or eight months prior and like the one stat like he was snatching like 260 or 265 and then he shows up to the games and snatches like 290 and he's taken. He almost hit 300 and he's like, no, no, the drugs had nothing to do with it. It's like, I bet they did. I don't believe that. It's like like you've been in the sport for years. Like if you're just a beginner, you can make progress like that. But I'm like, you've been in the sport for years. Yeah, and then in the last six months, you just had this huge spike in your performance and you're like, oh, no, it's just because I became dedicated. It's like I'm not buying it. Dedication. Yeah, so important to be dedicated. Now, how often do they test everybody? I mean pretty often. Do they show up randomly? Yeah. Yeah. So we have out of competition drug testing. You know, it's like when I did weightlifting, we were on like the NAN program. So no advance notice. So you had to give if you're in the Olympic sports, you're tested by the Olympic Association. You have to give one hour a day of where you are and they show up. They don't call nothing. So like everyone put from like 5 to 6 a.m. I'll be in my dorm room and like if you're leaving for the airport at like 450. You'll see someone sitting outside the dorm room just like looking at their watch waiting for 5 a.m. To hit and give the knock and like they'll follow you. They come with you to school work. Doesn't matter what you're doing. Will they make you miss a flight? Yeah, probably. I'd assume they would but I mean like I remember having to talk to professors of like I have an exam and like I didn't have to pee. So I'm like guys got to come to class with me and having to like explain to a professor like hey like these guys are here for drug testing. I compete in the sport. Is it okay if they just sit there in Wow? Yeah, so the cross the creepy. I mean it's weird like I've had it before where they showed up at 5 a.m. I didn't have to pee and I'm like yo, it's 5 a.m. I'm going back to bed and they're they're like yep. Well sit right here. So they sit in the room while you're sleeping. Yeah, they just pull up a chair and they'll just sit there. Just stare at you. I go back to bed. How can you sleep? Can you just like put on the TV or something for him and like you just go back to bed? I mean after a while you get used to it. It's like the first time having to take a drug test in front of someone. It's weird like yeah, they're inspecting you have to look at your dick. Yeah, making sure it's not rubber and and then I mean now it's like I don't even break conversation. It's like it happens so often every competition out of competition. You get to know the guy that's like in your region for drug testing. Did CrossFit always have drug testing? I don't know. I don't know enough about the history. I think it's newer. But yeah with the CrossFit drug testing. It's I remember the first time I got drug tested when I first got on the sport. I was like, I think these guys are doping like I don't believe it and I didn't know about the drug testing protocols. And then I had to sign up for it because I was doing well enough in the sport and then I get a phone call of like, hey, this is so and so from the drug testing where your name got pulled and I was I was honestly excited because I'm like, oh, sweet. They do regulate this. This is great. So yeah, I'm at the address that I listed. Come on in doors unlocked and he's like, oh, no, no, we'll be there tomorrow. I'm like, what I'm like, your call. You're giving me a day's notice. I don't like that at all. Like you can flush your system out a day, right? I have a lot of things. I have to assume that if you if you know what you're doing, you have a plan B like you have to assume that you're going to get tested at some point, right? How can they I know that the you saw to stopped allowing people to use IVs because one of the things they said about IVs allows you to flush your system out. I didn't you can test negative. I never knew the reasoning. I remember it was coming up like those IV bars that like they just jam pack it full of vitamins and whatever like these super doses. And it's like started as like a hangover cure, right? Right. And I remember that was getting pitched like other people around me were doing them and they're like, you should do this. And I'm like, all right, my livelihood depends on not breaking the rule. So I'm like and I'm contacting people at CrossFit like, hey, is this allowed? And it's like right there in the rule book of like no IVs over 50 milliliters or something equivalent to like a tablespoon or two tablespoons. So I was like, okay, that's not allowed. Not doing that. But yeah, I mean, so you can't even do IV vitamin trips. Interesting. Yeah, but you can do some IVs like said no IVs. I think if it's a medical emergency, so I'll give you super dehydrated. So like if you're in trouble and like getting hospitalized or like there's a a need for it. I think it's allowed catch new episodes of the Joe Rogan experience for free only on Spotify watch back catalog JRE videos on Spotify, including clips. Easily seamlessly switch between video and audio experience on Spotify. 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