Discussion

Olympic deception: Russia’s doping program is run by the same FSB team that poisoned Navalny

alephnerd: First there was Nemtsov, then there was Navlany. Wonder who's next.Funny thing is, if 1999 went differently Lukashenka actually had a shot at being in the Kremlin today.

konart: FSB's Second Service are also the ones who deal with the internet shitshow now.

JohnnyLarue: "...slain Russian opposition leader Navalny..." Navalny wasn't slain, this is nonsense. No intelligence agency says he was murdered, not even the Ukrainian FISB.

selfsigned: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-by-the-uk... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/14/alexei-navalny... "Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, was killed by dart frog poison administered by the Russian state two years ago, a multi-intelligence agency inquiry has found, according to a statement released by five countries, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands"Oh reeeaaaaally? Interesting comment history you have too.

cenamus: Not at all one sided... Forcing Ukraine into every second conversation and shitting on them

varispeed: Imagine if all Russians put their energy into making world a better place, instead of killing their neighbours, raping, stealing and corrupting. Sad.

lifestyleguru: The west is secretly in love with this malevolence, that's why.

Svoka: Yup, they call it 'mysterious russian soul', while it just a blatant disregard to human life

gavinray: I don't condone doping in tested sports, but I think there needs to be recognition that preventing athletes from modifying their biochemistry turns most sports into a genetic lottery showcase.Here is what I mean:Suppose that two men are born, with identical brains, but very different bodies. Both of them have a single desire: to be the fastest sprinter in the world.Man A)- Predominantly fast-twitch muscle fiber composition- Possesses ACTN3 RX genotype [0]- Testosterone, Growth Hormone, IGF-1 levels at the very upper end of reference rangeMan B)- Predominantly slow-twitch muscle fiber composition- Possesses ACTN3 XX genotype- Clinically deficient values of Testosterone, Growth Hormone, IGF-1. Prone to musculoskeletal injuries, possibly connective tissue disorders.If these two men live an identical life, and put the same amount of effort into training, the second man still has no hope of making it to the Olympics.Even doping would only be able to correct for hormonal deficiencies, not the genome-level disadvantages for power performance compared to the other athlete.A truly "fair" sport would pit competitors against each other who had near-identical genetic and physical traits.The Olympics is just watching the people who won genetic lotteries.[0]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11014841/

mirekrusin: It’s best of competition, not everybody at the same time on finish line equity gathering.

timnetworks: Olympics are literally a showcase of the genetic lottery. We can have Testtube Olympics alongside Special Olympics if there is sufficient interest.

gherkinnn: So the olympic games do pit near-identical competitors against each other.> The Olympics is just watching the people who won genetic lotteries.So? The olympic games should be the pinnacle of human performance (fed by their nation's interests). Of course it is lotteries all the way from the genetics, to what country you're born in, right to the national lottery putting money in to sports.Your alternatives are either a proliferation of categories or random people assembling every four years to roll dice to determine the winner. Neither is exciting.

RomanPushkin: How it is hacker news now?

bigyabai: Christo does excellent investigative journalism, his curiosity is well aligned with many of the people on this site.

speedgoose: Yeah so athletes with more money and better access to doping products win instead.Hard pass.

kelipso: Also will encourage athletes to give themselves long term health issues for short term performance gains.

bigyabai: Most sports are a genetic lottery showcase regardless of how many drugs you take.

throwaway27448: Ghee, i wonder what media you consume

gavinray: I'm of the "your body, your choice" mindTo me the decision to take PED's doesn't feel different than being an alcoholic or having an abortion.I wouldn't recommend anyone become an alcoholic, but it's their life and people ought to have the freedom of choice.

mindslight: [delayed]

stephbook: Please share it with us.

Rekindle8090: What's the point of this post? You're missing the forest for the trees. It's like saying racing is driver against driver, not driver and car against driver and car. Motivation has NEVER made up for physical fitness, never will, and never should. The olympics are about the human body first.

gavinray: > What's the point of this post? I don't see the Olympics as a particularly "fair" sport in the first place, in the sense of "fair" meaning "without favoritism" because physical capability is a vast spectrum.

dmurray: > A truly "fair" sport would pit competitors against each other who had near-identical genetic and physical traits.That's what the Olympics is. The men's 100m final pits against each other the fastest 8 men who are in their physical prime, full of fast twitch muscles, with West African descent. With some minor noise.If you want to watch people from other genotype buckets run 10-50% slower, you can watch the women's event or the Paralympics or, like, the All-Vietnam U-16 event. It seems churlish to complain that not every bucket is on TV at a convenient time for you.

mindslight: Obviously something on the hyperbolic sensationalist side, but closer to the truth than the simplistic contrarianism peddled by Russian propaganda. FWIW your comment is the type that makes me go back and upvote GP.

secondary_op: 1. How stupid you have to be to believe that three letter agency of any country isn't capable to delivering lethal dose of poison so that target is eliminated.2. It's unclear to this day who actually slightly poisoned Navalny and to what end.3. As of last week we have on camera confession [2] from Navalny's FBK's Leonid Volkov [1] that it's very disappointing that USAID money is no more. Video's in russian but you are, sure at least care and capable to translate it with AI, and if not even that don't even bother raise your propagandized brainwashed takes.I have nothing to say about OP linked site other than that it's trashcan of lies.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Volkov_(politician) [2] https://www.jpg.wtf/c54omx.mp4

nullorempty: hm, not much would change. - we'd still see palestine destroyed - iran bombed - iraq bombed - lybia bombed - afganistan bombed - lebanon bombedImagine if all countries would put their energy into building peace and prosperity. That would make a difference.

Svoka: ah, here comes whataboutism. And you are correct. It would be great if russia didn't destroy Afghanistan and Syria.Also, equating conflicts is a very shallow and inadequate manipulation tool. For example, russians razed dozens of cities in Ukraine, establish torture and rape chambers, use rape, torture, execution of POW as policy today."all wars are bad" doesn't mean that whatever russia does is way worse.

nullorempty: Just pointing out that nothing would change. And you are obviously fixated on Russia. May be broaden your perspective.

thatsamejew2: The western propaganda full steam again.Just think of how many people you have killed in the past months who posed much less threat to you than you to their country and their people. And I am anbsolutely sure Israel and Pentagon are not very picky about the means they use."But these were not our citizens..": true, the little girls murdered by you in Teheran were not. So these "not our citizens" thing you can shove you know where.Filthy murderers.

hananova: No, the olympics are a doping competition, and a meta-competition of “who is better at not getting detected.”In general, the statement “if they got a medal, they cheated” is true so much of the time that it becomes a sensible default assumption. And it sucks for the few that didn’t cheat.

drdaeman: [delayed]

faangguyindia: You don't need 3 letter agencies.Billionaires and Tech Executives from CA do it all time too.Heck one even threatened to eliminate me because I was working on competing ad tech low latency system. I was much younger back then completely shook.

Svoka: only things you point out are russian propaganda points.

nullorempty: that you need to broaden your perspective? Russian propaganda said that about you?

hax0ron3: I always wonder about Navalny - why did he go back to Russia? Did he really believe that he could do some kind of Nelson Mandela thing? Or that the Russian people would flock to his cause? I believe that the man was an idealist, I don't think you expose yourself to that much danger without being an idealist at least on some level or if you think that the possible personal rewards make the danger worth it, and I don't get the sense from Navalny that he was after personal rewards primarily. But with his experience in Russian politics, I feel like he should have known that the chance that his return to Russia would bring about any serious political change was extremely small. Not returning to Russia would have hurt his chances of causing political change as well, since that would have made him seem like just an agent of the Western powers. But returning to Russia at the cost of his life also did not accomplish political change.