Gerard Hartmann Interview: Have we lost the very essence of sport?

Gerard Hartmann has treated Olympic athletes in his Limerick clinic and he suspected some were doping. At the time, he blocked it out. Now innocence has been lost and maybe a lot more besides.

In Gerard Hartmann’s treatment room, there’s an array of sports memorabilia. Sonia O’Sullivan’s singlet. Signed photographs. All-Ireland winners’ boots. Running shoes which were used to set records at every distance, in every discipline.

What he’s showing me, however, are his training diaries from the 70s. The daily record of his mileage as a runner, before he became an internationally renowned physical therapist. When athletics was a dream, not a disappointment.