Not long before Ilya Ilyin announced his retirement from the sport of weightlifting due to the complications of Olympic qualification brought on by Covid-19, I was able to sit down with him and record an interview about his life. We spoke about his childhood and training process in part 1, and more in part 2 about his use of drugs in the sport.
Main Topics and Time Stamps
- 00:18 – What was the 242kg World Record like?
- 04:19 – Best ever training lifts
- 06:37 – Where were you the moment you got popped?
- 13:30 – “My life is ruined”
- 16:28 – Do you blame Kazakhstan?
- 18:50 – The involvement of politics in sport. “There is big money…”
- 19:40 – Did WADA make you their poster boy?
- 20:25 – Is it wrong to take drugs in sport?
- 22:20 – Do sports need drugs to maintain popularity?
- 23:10 Is it possible to remove drugs from weightlifting?