Fouad Chouki :
Ran 1:48 3:42 and 7:49 in high-school without ANY RUNNING TRAINING. That's better than Nico young and Leo Daschbach together, on 0 miles per week.
He was only playing soccer. He hated running but he was pushed to run because of his talent. He ran 3'33 clean, dying on the ground after it, and then, he began to take micro-doses, because everyone told him that he would not be a global medalist without doping. And then he ran 3'30 on a very messy and bad race, in which he probably lost 2 seconds or more, on only 2 months of EPO, at 48% hematocrit which "isn't THAT high compared to other runners doping". (He didn't feel any pain during this race, and had an incredible feeling of flying, even after crossing the finish line. I think that's interesting because we have the same thing with most professional runners right now, and you can't explain that just with adrenaline, because Chouki was still dying running 3'33 clean, even though he just ran a pr. )
With a year of "proper doping" ("like the other best runners in the world"), he would have shattered the 1500m record, but his coach was holding him back because he said that "if he was beating or getting close to El Guerrouj, he would have been in a lot of troubles."
He was only caught for doping because he injured himself during the 2003 1500m final and they gave him a drug which had as a side effect to keep the EPO detectable longer.
He confessed directly after he got the notification of his positive control, and he was almost laughing because he didn't care at all about running and was only doing it for money, (60k a month), without training seriously, going to nightclub and getting drunk instead of training.
He then signed a pro soccer contrat with Le Havre just some months after that and was really happy that he was finally delivered from running and could finally do whatever he wants without anyone trying to tell him otherwise. The French anti doping federation learnt that and prohibited him from signing the contract, he was devastated and even cried when he learnt that he could not play football professionally because of his EPO test, which had been his dream for his whole life.
He didn't care at all that he could not run anymore but his life ended when he learnt he could not play football, his real love :
"Oui, par exemple. J’allais signer un contrat pro avec le Havre. C’était un rêve d’enfant pour moi. J’étais l’homme le plus heureux du monde à ce moment-là. J’avais fait les tests, l’entraîneur Jean François Domergue, voulait que je joue 4 mois en Nationale, le niveau en-dessous, et après, il me prenait dans son groupe.Derrière, j’apprends que le CPLD m’interdit de jouer au foot, que le club du Havre risque 400.000 euros d’amende, moi, je risquais 6 mois de prison. Sincèrement, là, j’en ai pleuré. Quand j’ai eu mon contrôle anti-dopage, je n’avais pas une seule larme, j’avais même le sourire, et quand j’ai eu cette nouvelle où on m’interdisait de jouer au foot, là, j’ai lâché des larmes. Car c’était ma vraie passion. Ca m’a fait un peu mal. Il fallait beaucoup de force et beaucoup de courage. A ce moment-là, encore une fois, j’ai eu ma famille autour de moi, ma femme, mes amis, qui m’ont aidé psychologiquement parce qu’il faut dire que leur soutien m’a été d’une aide précieuse, même si j’ai un mental qui était capable de supporter."
He believed with proper training and proper accompaniment from youth, he would have been able to get close or beat El Guerrouj's world record, even without doping.
But he claims one thing, do whatever you want with it, I'm just translating :
Even if you have the fastest pr, you can't medal on the 1500 at a global championship, unless it's a very slow race like Rio 2016. Because there are 3 races, which is extremely tough on the 1500. If the heats are run in 3:38 or 3:37, and then the semis around the same time or a little bit faster, then even if your pr is under 3:30, you can't recover properly from that unless you're doping :
"Encore une fois pour être le meilleur, moi, je vous dis, et c’est un connaisseur qui parle, que pour être dans les trois premiers aux Championnats du Monde ou aux Jeux Olympiques, (je ne compte pas le Championnat d’Europe, car ça n’a vraiment rien à voir), c’est-à-dire battre les Africains, sans dopage, c’est impossible. Pourquoi ? Parce que dans un championnat, il y a 3 courses. Déjà en séries, parfois ça va vite, parfois non. Il y a une différence entre gagner sa série en 3’37’’ et gagner en 3’45’’, et 8 secondes de différence, c’est énormément de fatigue perdue pour celui en 3’37’’. Après, il y a la demi-finale, ça ne se court pas en 3’45’’. Bon, cette année, la finale des Jeux est bizarre. 3’50’’, c’est rien. En rigolant, je dirais qu’à l’époque, je pouvais le faire à cloche pied ! Donc, il y a trois courses à enchaîner. Comme pour le 800 m. Mais le 1500 m est un niveau au-dessus du 800 m pour la fatigue, le lactique, c’est plus dur. Donc pour moi, pour arriver à être dans les trois premiers aux Championnats du Monde ou aux Jeux, il faut la franchir cette ligne. Sans cette merde-là, excusez-moi du terme, on ne peut pas y arriver…"
He then talked about Mo Farah to finish his interview :
"Je me suis peut-être fait avoir. Au final, tout le monde fait ça dans le haut niveau. Pourquoi c’est moi qui doit prendre pour tous les autres ? Quand on voit ce que fait Mo Farah, il faut arrêter. Il ne faut pas avoir un bac + 10 pour comprendre qu’ils se foutent de la gueule du monde ! Mo Farah, 3’28’’ ? C’est une blague. 1500, 10000, marathon, c’est du jamais vu."
He wrote a book some years later to explain everything about that and to describe the world of professional running and what he saw during his career.
I'm not saying he's right or not, but I personally know him because I lived for years in the same city as him (Strasbourg) and I can tell you that he isn't just "telling lies about the other runners just to justify his use of doping".
And that's always interesting to have the opinion of a world class runner during the "EPO Era", and arguably the most naturally talented of them all.