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Evidence from Rodchenkov that has already turned Vladimir Putins Russia into international sporting outcasts continues to be used in cases against athletes along with data from his former laboratory in Moscow. Cheating, lying and denying are fundamental to political life in Russia, Rodchenkov observes. The Kremlin, he says, will kill him if it can: Its a fact of life. I live in protective custody in the proverbial undisclosed location and whenever I leave my small apartment I am accompanied by one, or sometimes two, armed guards. In a bit of subterfuge worthy of James Bond, Rodchenkov succeeded in sneaking his diaries out of Russia. He wrote so much he had to cook, stew and mix the manuscript, he says jokingly using the vocabulary of doping. To keep from going crazy, Rodchenkov writes in his diary, which opens up one of the films most exciting subplots. Those schemes were overseen by Russias Ministry of Sport, Rodchenkov says, and he insists the mandate to cheat came from even higher up, from Putin himself. You can expect that's what we're going to be looking at next. Since hes wearing a black scarf over his face and dark glasses, its hard to tell. There is rivalry between Moscow spies and a powerful group from Putins home city of St Petersburg, he says. The IC established that Rodchenkov "not only accepted, but also requested money" from atheletes in order to conceal their positive test results. He flew to LA and stayed with the filmmaker Bryan Fogel, whose documentary on the affair, Icarus, would win an Oscar. As Director of the ironically named Moscow Anti-Doping Centre (ADC), my job was to make sure that the hundreds of Russian athletes participating in international events were never caught with banned substances, such and anabolic steroids or synthetic testosterone, in their body fluids. The Russian team, competing as the Russian Olympic Committee, won the team event on the blades of young star Kamila Valieva. Rodchenkov knows the FSB. As the world has seen, Dr. Rodchenkov provided credible and irrefutable evidence of the Russian state-sponsored doping system," Walden said in a statement. We are talking on Skype. Rodchenkov was featured in the 2017 Netflix documentary Icarus, directed by Bryan Fogel. They have been holed up in a dacha outside the capital, trying to dodge coronavirus. He had outwitted Wada the World Anti-Doping Agency; Putin gave him the Order of Friendship. He separates opposition in two ways enemies betrayers, Rodchenkov said. The FSB terminated Kamaev with an invisible inoculation, he thinks. [17] In January 2016, fearing for his safety, Rodchenkov boarded a flight from Moscow to Los Angeles. In Icarus, Rodchenkov describes his involvement in a conspiracy to help Russian athletes to beat doping tests in the Olympic Games. During the Arbitration between Alexander Legkov and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IOC submitted that "Dr. Rodchenkov's account of events is truthful and accurate", stating: According to the IOC, minor inconsistencies in his testimony were considered unimportant. But what has happened to him since? The film reveals Rodchenkov has been living like a hunted man, forced to relocate frequently within the U.S., lest potential Russian assassins track him down. WebGrigory Mikhailovich Rodchenkov, the former head of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory, the Anti-Doping Center, was charged with covering up positive drug test cases and destroying more than thousand urine samples and found guilty by the Independent Commission of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2015.

Last summer, Canada repeated as world champion by beating the U.S. in the final, six months after beating the U.S. in the Olympic final. The super-labs name is a misnomer. [35][36] His lawyer, Jim Walden, issued a statement on behalf of Rodchenkov saying that the decision to reinstate Russia is "the greatest treachery against clean athletes in Olympic history". At the time Rodchenkov was the director of the Russia's national anti-doping laboratory. [25] The Moscow laboratory "operated under State oversight and control" and "personnel were required to be part of the State directed system that enabled Russian athletes to compete while engaging in the use of doping substances. https://open.spotify.com/episode/15p3DpjZeaXCwcXyGTytMj?si=fKvvPb9aTSu6iGWWVImbyg Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh broke her second world record this week, lowering the 400m individual medley mark on Saturday. Rodchenkovs revelations led directly to Russias Olympic Committee being suspended from world sport; the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rowed back on this and allowed some Russian athletes to compete in the 2016 Rio and 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Shortly after release of the IC report, WADA suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center, which Rodchenkov had headed since 2006. Honestly it was like leveling the field. The states role is absolutely clear, Rodchenkov says. The IC report concluded that Rodchenkov was "at the heart of the positive drug test coverup". Maybe so, maybe not. [2] Rodchenkov's allegations were confirmed by the independent McLaren Report, leading to Russia's partial bans from the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics. But Rodchenkov the most significant sports whistleblower of the 21st century is probably at the top. Moscow is currently appealing a four-year ban from major international sporting events. In July 2016, the McLaren Report, an independent investigation commissioned by WADA found corroborating evidence after conducting witness interviews, reviewing thousands of documents, cyber analysis of hard drives, forensic analysis of urine sample collection bottles, and laboratory analysis of individual athlete samples, with "more evidence becoming available by the day." The women, who were stripped of the silver medal they won as part of a relay team, are seeking $10 million each in damages.[43]. Unlike their scripted fiction counterparts, the story doesnt end when the cameras stop rolling. Fogels follow up premiered Friday night at the Telluride Film Festival. By the time the Sochi Games arrived, Moscow had taken its doping operation to a giddy level. Just a glance could tell you that the samples were different the colours didnt match, and the tiny suspended flakes that formed after storage were different shapes and sizes. But, after losing to Russian Evgeny Rylov in the 200m backstroke, US swimmer Ryan Murphy questioned whether it the race had been clean because of things that had happened in the past.. The state of the art Anti-Doping Agency building at the Sochi Games, The infamous 'mousehole' allowed the team to pass bottles through the wall, The lab staff pulling an 'all-nighter' during the Sochi Games, Alexander Zubkov leads the Russian athletes at Sochi's opening ceremony, Ekaterina Poistogova, who won a silver medal in 200m at the London Olympics, was one of the athletes banned over the scandal. Almost five years later, Rodchenkov says he made the right choice. And what is your job on the ship? Im like [an espresso] technician.. Its always nice to set world records, McIntosh said. Dr Grigory Rodchenkov fled Russia when the doping scandal broke Credit: Rex 7 Bob-sled medallist Alexander Zubkov with President Putin at the closing ceremony in Sochi, where he won his second gold. The ban wasnt a ban at all. Yet another anecdote involved a protocol whereby athletes quickly guzzled beers after a sporting event, then voided their bladders into their track suits before taking a urine test. For women athletes, the preferred cocktail was a martini and steroids. They are also very consistent and contain "no contradictions" between the various elements of his account. [41], Following Russia's banning from the 2018 Winter Olympics and the stripping of medals from multiple Russian athletes, Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, at the time the controlling owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, agreed to finance a defamation lawsuit in New York against Rodchenkov. This is still Soviet attitude, he says in the documentary. Germanys ARD TV network accused him of presiding over a massive doping programme. Will they ever be united again? During that hearing, Walden discussed Rodchenkov's work in detail and suggested that the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee needed to do more to restore integrity to international sport. [26], In November 2017, an IOC panel concluded: "Whatever his motivation may be and whichever wrongdoing he may have committed in the past, Dr. Rodchenkov was telling the truth when he provided explanations of the cover-up scheme that he managed."[32][26]. This was in room 125. He regards the Russian athletes who took part in the fraud as witting cheats. Capturing Rodchenkovs life day to day became the responsibility of cinematographer Jake Swantko, who describes it as sort of like this embed process. Swantko came away impressed with Rodchenkovs capacity to maintain a positive outlook. In 2016, after the doping allegations were widely reported, Putin called Rodchenkov a "man with a scandalous reputation.". Putin gave an interview in which he said, In general, treason is the greatest crime on Earth. Hes grinning, I think. [failed verification] He joined the Anti-Doping Centre in Calgary for the 1998 Winter Olympics. "Russia's consistent denials lack any credibility, and its failure to produce all evidence in its possession only further confirms its high-level complicity. Exposing Russias state-sponsorship doping scheme forced Rodchenkov into hiding in the United States five years ago. The Doping Control station during the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games in Russia. In all, 13 of the 25 players on the team are Olympians, including three-time Olympic medalists forward Amanda Kesseland defenderLee Stecklein. In leaving Russia when hearing his life was at risk, Rodchenkov left behind his wife and two children. Worlds start Wednesday in Brampton, Ontario, and run through the gold-medal game on April 16. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. In Icarus, Rodchenkov describes his involvement in a conspiracy to help Russian athletes to beat doping tests in the Olympic Games. The Russian athletic industry collapsed in 2016 after Dr Grigory Rodchenkov revealed how the government was involved in doping in an intricate web of deception and fraud. [1][13][14], At the time, Rodchenkov was the director of the Russia's national anti-doping laboratory. Say what you will about Rodchenkov and his motives (the Russian TV clips are brutal in this regard), but theres something undeniably heroic in the sacrifices he makes to challenge Putins power. ", "WADA suspends Moscow anti-doping laboratory", "Doping whistleblower urges Russia to come clean", "Second former Russian anti-doping official dies suddenly", " ", "Russian anti-doping official planned book before sudden death - CBC Sports", "Russian doping at Sochi Winter Olympics exposed", "McLaren Independent Investigations Report into Sochi Allegations", "Decision of the IOC Disciplinary Commission: Alexander Legkov", "Russia's Doping Program Laid Bare by Extensive Evidence in Report", "McLaren report: more than 1,000 Russian athletes involved in doping conspiracy", "Emails show how Russian officials covered up mass doping", "Arbitration CAS 2017/A/5379 Alexander Legkov v. International Olympic Committee, award of 23 April 2018", "More than 1,000 Russian athletes involved in doping, McLaren report says", "IOC judges back truthful whistleblower, ban 5 more Russians", "Russia banned from 2018 Olympics for widespread doping program", "Attorney Speaks Russia's Doping Program, Feb 22 2018 | Video", "Opinion: Decision to reinstate Russia would be catastrophic in fight against doping", "Despite protests, Russia's anti-doping agency reinstated", Joe Rogan Podcast Episode 1592 with Bryan Fogel, "Russian Doping Whistleblower Says He Fears For His Life", "Doping scandal: WADA to decide whether Russia is in compliance with code", "Russian Olympians file libel suit against doping whistleblower", "N.B.A. He wrote the first chunk of The Rodchenkov Affair immediately after arriving in America. Putin, of course, denies any wrongdoing. Icarus: The Aftermath shifts from spy thriller to heist movie for a spell, as Rodchenkovs legal team sends an agent to retrieve these books, which corroborate his claims (which are reenacted via unattractive animated sequences). Fogel could communicate with Rodchenkov periodically over the internet, and see him in person, but only on rare occasions (each visit carried the risk of exposing his location). He says its recruits are not homogenic. Dr. Rodchenkov only provided detailed information concerning particular athletes when he appears to have specific information relating to those athletes. The Sochi Olympics, in 2014, was the first on Russian soil since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and its impossible to overstate how important they were to the Russians and to Vladimir Putin. I spent all night tweaking PH readings, which helped change the appearance of the flakes. He listed 67 urine samples of Russian athletes collected before the London Olympics, and asked for the leftover ones, which WADA had instructed us to retain, to be shipped to their lab at Lausanne for reanalysis. ", " ", "The story behind the story of Russia, doping and the I.O.C", "Russian doping: Who is whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov? However, the announcement was not made because the sports and party leaders of the USSR did not want to cause a scandal. Since Dr. Rodchenkov is no longer in Russia, he is now able to speak honestly with less fear of the consequences than if he had chosen to describe the existence and detail of the scheme while he was in Russia. They just want to make money. Blokhin, he says, knew nothing about doping when he got the Sochi assignment, codenamed Operation Resultat. As I write this, these goals seem almost unattainable but radical changes occur when you least expect them. The doping cover-up extended beyond the Winter Olympics, into the Summer Games, Paralympics, world track and field championships and every major sport. Toward the end of the film, he takes further steps to protect himself, moves so extreme they mean he may never lay eyes on his family again, nor on the filmmakers. WebThis clip is taken from the Joe Rogan Experience #1592 with Bryan Fogel. Grigory Rodchenkov says he created substances to help Russian Olympic athletes perform better and switched urine samples so that they could evade detection. In each of her four races this week, she also broke the world junior record as the fastest woman in history under the age of 19. The IC report concluded that Rodchenkov was "at the heart of the positive drug test coverup". She took the fall, while he, after an attempt on his life, returned as director of the lab in 2011. His mother worked as a doctor at Kremlin Hospital (now Central Clinical Hospital). A month after reaching the US, Rodchenkov confessed all on camera the lies, the cover-up, the states omnipotent role. He left his family behind in Russia, yet doesnt regret exposing his countrys doping perfidy. Doctor Death spent time in a psychiatric hospital to escape criminal prosecution, as his sister was sentenced to 18 months in jail (later suspended on appeal). An FSB officer, Evgeny Blokhin, oversaw the entire operation, disguised as an innocent plumber. Rodchenkov realised his situation was now extremely dangerous. Will they ever be united again? I am falling in the betrayers category and all betrayers should be beheaded, cut, dead. Most of the time, documentaries dont get sequels, which is strange. The athletes especially the older ones, who got the most benefit then swigged Rodchenkovs potent drugs cocktail. His efforts are not appreciated, to say the least, to the extent that Fogel asks Ganus whether he would also like to flee Russia at one point. The movie introduces others who feel the same, such as Yuri Ganus, new head of RUSADA, whom Fogel first interviews at the Play the Game sports conference. We had built a special lab close to the Olympic village which all the doping control samples would pass through and we needed to exploit this situation. Its unclear if its team will take part in next summers postponed Toyko Olympics or in the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022. An irate President Putin demanded personalised and absolute accountability. Back then, Gretchen was engaged to fianc Jeff Beitzel, who had been diagnosed with cancer. Sport and ideology go hand in hand; as the Sochi Games loomed, Putin gave orders for Russias performance to be improved as a matter of urgency, the whistleblower says. But after the event, it was revealed Valieva had failed a drug test prior to the Olympics. In an editorial published in the American newspaper USA Today, Rodchenkov expressed his dismay at the decision calling it "catastrophic." It failed to spot 126 positive doping cases, he says, including 82 in track and field. [38][39][40], Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported that sports minister Pavel Kolobkov said the investigative committee found no evidence to support the state operated a doping system.

I knew there were between 10 and 12 positives among them and we had less than 24 hours to make the urine look doping-free. And I want to live.. He enjoys the Russian greats too Lermontov, Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, plus the poets Joseph Brodsky and Daniil Kharms. In June/July 2013, British journalist Nick Harris informed International Olympic Committee (IOC) and WADA about this criminal drug case and suspicions of Rodchenkov's involvement, but this information was apparently ignored. U.S. womens rugby team qualifies for 2024 Paris Olympics as medal Oscar Pistorius denied parole, hasnt served enough time. Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 62 years old? [12] Charges against him were eventually dropped, but his sister was convicted and jailed in December 2012. Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. Go back four decades and Rodchenkov was starting out in a Soviet system learning how to manipulate doping controls. (In 2016, Rodchenkovs No. As Rodchenkov recounts in a gripping memoir, The Rodchenkov Affair, he ran Russias doping programme. But why now trust Rodchenkov as he presents a virtuous image at odds with his deep collusion with the state to cheat? The entries contain a wealth of information detailing Russias longstanding efforts to elude anti-doping measures.

[46] On 4 March 2018, Icarus won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Steroid detection had become so sophisticated but we realised that if you consumed steroids dissolved in alcohol, by swirling the mixture around in your mouth, the most risky, or detectable, metabolites would not emerge. "[1] It also found that Rodchenkov was truthful with respect to the subject matter under investigation. Rodchenkov acknowledges the Games were exceptionally dirty and blames in part the poor analytical performance of the UKs anti-doping lab at Harlow, Essex. Vladimir Putin demands absolute fealty to the Russian state, and woe to anyone who defies him. By early 2013, we knew that we had a nearly undetectable steroid delivery system in the cocktail and we could swap tainted urine from an athletes A and B bottles with clean urine from a freezer. The 2015 Independent Commissions Report named me 97 times, saying I was at the heart of the positive drug test cover- up and an aider and abettor of the doping activities. There were no security cameras. Western doping-control inspectors who occasionally dropped by spotted nothing amiss; the mouse-hole looked like an inoperative power socket. [1] He was placed in a psychiatric hospital for schizotypal personality disorder following a suidice attempt after charges were filed against him.

Following Russia's banning from the 2018 Winter Olympics and the stripping of medals from multiple Russian athletes, Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, controlling owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, agreed to finance a defamation lawsuit in New York against Rodchenkov. [30]:70 Dr. Rodchenkov also stated that: (a) he "never observed first hand any bottles being opened or de-capped"; (b) accordingly, he did not know the "precise method" used to open the bottles; but (c) he did see a "table with instruments that resembled a dentist's tools". They understand its much better for me not to be in a grave next to Nikita. Nikita is Nikita Kamaev, Rodchenkovs deputy. ", On December 5, 2017, it was announced that Russia would be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. These were carefully stored.