Icarus begins as one film and becomes another. Bryan Fogel begins with a personal experiment: he will dope himself during an amateur cycling race to test whether detection can be evaded. He contacts Grigory Rodchenkov, the director of Russia’s national anti-doping laboratory, for help. Rodchenkov agrees.

What unfolds over the following year is a story that no one planned: Rodchenkov reveals that he was the architect of Russia’s state-sponsored doping program for the Sochi Olympics. He describes a system involving sample substitution through a hole in the wall of the testing facility.

Fogel, a first-time documentarian, found himself in possession of one of the most significant geopolitical sports stories of the decade, with the key witness living in his guest bedroom. The film’s second half, Rodchenkov in hiding as Russia moves to silence its witnesses, has the quality of a thriller rather than a documentary.

Icarus won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Its implications for international sports remain active years after its release.