From spinning favorite to doper: that is what is behind the deep fall of sprinter Alex Wilson

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March 15, 2021 turns the life of sprinter Alex Wilson (33) upside down forever. On that fateful spring day, the Basel resident took a doping test outside a match, discovering the banned substance Trenbolone shortly afterwards. A powerful anabolic steroid that promotes muscle growth.

Wilson has been banned for four years. The maximum penalty for a first offense. The appeal period expired a few days ago – unused. Although the sprinter repeatedly protested his innocence. Wilson is now a legally convicted doping offender. Wilson has been excluded from the Swiss Athletics Federation’s selection since 2021. Swiss Athletics writes that it has taken note of the development of the procedure. There is no longer any contact with him. It is the low point in Wilson’s career.

Wilson fought his way up

The career of the born Jamaican initially looked like a fairy tale. He grew up in poor conditions in the Caribbean. When Alex Wilson was seven years old, his single mother moved to Switzerland to live with her new partner. The boy is left with his aunt, who sometimes deals blows as he raises the lively boy. It was not until the age of fifteen that Wilson followed his mother to Switzerland.

There he met his first trainer, Christian Oberer (83), who over the years became a kind of father figure. During the big moment at the 2018 European Championships, when Wilson won bronze in the 200 meters, Oberer was at his side, no longer as a coach, but as an advisory friend.

But there has been radio silence between the two for two years. For the coaching legend, Alex Wilson’s chapter is closed. He hasn’t responded to calls or messages for a while now. Oberer says: “I am very disappointed in Alex.” What happened?

The fateful look at the USA

The break and thus Wilson’s decline started in January 2021, shortly after his British coach Lloyd Cowan (58) died unexpectedly from Covid. Wilson then turned to the US and contacted naturopath Eric Lira. “What do you want from the Americans?” Oberer asked him at the time. “They make me faster,” was Wilson’s response. ‘I was already thinking about it. But I no longer had any influence over Alex.”

Last May, Eric Lira admitted in court that he had supplied two athletes with illegal substances. The name Alex Wilson appears several times in the investigation files of the American authorities. Due to these complications, the Basel resident faces a ban of another eight years.

Did Christian Oberer foresee that Wilson’s sports fairytale would end in a doping swamp? Looking back, he says: “Doping was not an issue in our time. He didn’t need that. But Alex was not easy, it was better to keep him on a short leash.” Oberer no longer wants to do business with his former protégé. About the punishment, which is now legally binding, he only says: “That’s right. He has this is completely self-inflicted.”

Source : Blick