Russia begins investigation against former Moscow laboratory chief and drugs whistleblower

IT hasn’t taken Russia long to blow the whistle on the whistle blowers after Russian investigators started legal action against a former Moscow laboratory chief.

Maria Sharapova was the Russian flag bearer at the London Games.

IT hasn’t taken Russia long to blow the whistle on the whistle blowers.

Within 24 hours of learning its track athletes would be banned from the Rio Olympics, Russian investigators started legal action against former Moscow laboratory chief Grigory Rodchenkov, one of the key officials whose explosive evidence of serial doping has shamed his country.

While two doctors he worked closely with died mysteriously in Russia within weeks of each other in February, Rodchenkov has been more fortunate.

He fled Russia for Los Angeles before claiming up to 15 Russian medal winners at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics were part of a secret doping program where hundreds of contaminated drug samples were swapped with clean ones.

In November 2015 Rodchenkov’s name was included in the WADA investigation into the use of doping by Russian track and field athletes which led to the Rio ban.

After Sochi, Rodchenkov was awarded the Order of Friendship by President Vladimir Putin but was sacked soon after WADA mentioned him as being part of a massive cover-up operation.

He has confessed to this but claimed he was given a spread sheet by the Russian Ministry of Sport detailing the name of athletes whose samples must be swapped.

Whatever the truth there are fears the Rio ban for Russia’s track and field team will not drag Russia out of the parrelel universe, which they seem to inhabit.

Denial and deceit still appear to be rampant forces.

Maria Sharapova was the Russian flag bearer at the London Games.

Before the international athletics federation (IAAF) voted to ban Russia’s athletes from Rio they discussed a disturbing interview with Russia’s former 400m runner Tatyana Firova who claimed that athletes should be able to use performance enhancing drugs.

Firova, who recently failed a drug test, displayed a nativity that was staggering given her status as a three-time Olympic silver medallist.

“We sportsmen are performers, we follow the rules that are given to us by the system. A normal person can take banned substances if they want to.”

“So why can’t athletes take them as well. How else can we achieve high results?”

While the decision to ban Russian track and field athletes from Rio has been applauded worldwide the reputation of that sport remains in the toilet.

Russia may have appointed English company UKAD to drug test its athletes but that company’s report that 99 of its intended 247 tests on Russian athletes never took place because of avoidance issues is a telling example of Russia’s ignorance and arrogance on drug issues.

Originally published as Russia begins investigation against former Moscow laboratory chief and drugs whistleblower