Athletes suspended for drug use. The most high-profile doping scandals in the history of Russian sports. - It's a bad situation.

Swedish skier Kalle Halvarsson commented on the victory of Russian Yevgeny Belov in the 15-kilometer individual race free style at the World Cup in Davos.

- I don't think about it. He was allowed to be here and compete, so everything is as it is.

Is this an awkward situation?

- Yes. You never look forward to... No, it's not cool to compete with those who have been suspended for doping. But there are rules that they can come back and perform, so you have to accept that,” said Halvarsson.

Markus Kramer: Halvarsson should focus on himself and train better

Russian national team coach cross-country skiing Markus Kramer expressed bewilderment at the words of the Swede Kalle Halvarsson to the Russian Yevgeny Belov.

Belov today won the 15-kilometer individual freestyle race at the World Cup in Davos.

Halvarsson, who became 16th in it, mentioned the removal of the Russian from the competition last season.

“I don’t understand why he says that. I think it's just ridiculous! None of our skiers have ever had a positive doping test.

Kalle, perhaps, should focus on himself and make sure that he trains better ... No, it is obvious that he does not know how to lose, ”Kramer said.

Martin Jonsrud Sundby: "Belov is a good guy and a great skier"

Norwegian skier Martin Jonsrud Sundby does not believe that the temporary suspension of Evgeny Belov from racing at the World Cup in any way detracts sports achivments Russian.

“This is one of those stories that we wonder about... I don't know if there's more to say about it. I think Belov is a good guy and a great skier,” Sundby said.

Belov was suspected of violating anti-doping rules in Sochi-2014 based on the testimony of the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, and the report of Richard McLaren. Sports arbitration court(CAS) found the Russian innocent.

Belov was temporarily suspended by the FIS from starts, but after the decision of CAS, the suspension was lifted.

Photo: sportpharma.ru

To remove the Russian national team from participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics, to impose sanctions on the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) - this decision was made by the executive committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at a meeting on the evening of December 5 in Lausanne, Switzerland. IOC Chairman Thomas Bach said that some Russians are allowed to compete in Korean Pyeongchang under a neutral, white flag - as an "Olympic athlete from Russia." In addition, Russian athletes will be able to take part in the closing ceremony of the Games. But neither the flag nor the anthem of Russia should be present at the Olympics. Russia is also obliged to cover the costs of the IOC commissions for the investigation - $ 15 million. Membership in the IOC of the head of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), Alexander Zhukov, has been suspended. Former Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation (now Deputy Prime Minister) Vitaly Mutko is banned from attending the Olympic Games for life. Former General Director of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee Dmitry Chernyshenko (now President of the Continental hockey league(KHL) removed from the coordinating commission of the Beijing 2022 Olympics...

Many expected tough decisions in Lausanne regarding Russia. (In addition, there were signals from insiders: the IOC had already ordered a batch of uniforms from Nike for Russian athletes"neutral color" with the inscription "Olympic athlet from Russia" - "Olympic athlete from Russia").

But few people expected a whole package of tough decisions: “We have never encountered such manipulation and fraud before,” commented the IOC decision, the head of one of the IOC commissions investigating unprecedented doping violations Russian side during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Its experts said that the Russian system of doping fraud can only be compared with the one that was once created in the GDR.

Russia has the right to appeal the decision of the IOC to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is also located in Lausanne. But the chances of a successful appeal, experts say, are negligible.

February 2014: Sochi triumph

Late on the evening of February 23, 2014, after the colorful closing ceremony of the XXII Olympic Winter Games ended at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, President Putin, Minister of Sports Yury Nagornykh Mutko and his deputy, Alexander Zhukov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko and several other responsible officials, secluded in a small room, drank a glass of champagne in a "narrow circle". Everyone was in high spirits, including Putin, even though the news from the capital of Ukraine was more disturbing day by day: on the night of 21/22, President Yanukovych fled from Kiev, embraced by the “revolution of dignity”. During the closing ceremony of the Games at the Sochi stadium, cameras repeatedly caught the sullen face of Putin, dressed in a dark gray leather coat. But the euphoria from sports victories outweighed the geopolitical hardships for a short time: after all, Russia became the leader of the Sochi Games in the team medal standings - 33 medals, of which 13 were gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze. Thus, the record of the Soviet team (29 medals), obtained in 1988 at the Olympics in Calgary, Canada, was broken.

But in addition to the awards, the Games were also evidenced by 11 Olympic venues built on time and in accordance with world standards, and 25 thousand volunteers who promptly and kindly served the crowds of guests: 1 million 322 thousand people visited the Sochi Olympics. The 1.5 trillion rubles spent on preparations for the Games (data from the Olimpstroy Group of Companies) seemed to have certainly paid off.

The world press wrote a lot about how successfully Russia used soft-power in Sochi. And when the annexation of Crimea soon followed, many international observers even wondered whether Putin needed to cross out all the image achievements of the Sochi Games in one fell swoop.

The leadership lasted exactly 3 years and 9 months, until November 2017. And then the IOC began to take away medals from our athletes one after another: the skier Alexander Legkov was the first to lose two of his Sochi medals, followed by four more of his fellow skiers, the next losses were two medals in bobsleigh, four in skeleton, one in speed skating, then two more women's biathlon, then two more - in the men's ... By the beginning of December, the Russian team finally and irrevocably lost its first place in Sochi - more than two dozen athletes were disqualified for violating anti-doping rules, the results of their performances were canceled. In the team standings, Russia dropped from first to sixth place.

November 2015: Run to Rio

An international scandal erupted on November 9, 2015, after a special commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published (RUSADA).

WADA accused the Russian agency of destroying the results of tests (1400 samples) for doping Russian athletes after the 2012 London Olympics. The 323-page document testified to widespread corruption and massive use, including by eminent athletes, of prohibited substances. According to WADA, the removal of samples was done at the request of the Russian Ministry of Sports and the FSB. Based on the results of the investigation, the commission recommended that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) disqualify the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF). In addition, the commission demanded that five athletes be disqualified for life. The list includes Maria Farnosova ( Olympic champion 2012), Ekaterina Poistogova (Olympic bronze medalist), Anastasia Bazdyreva, Kristina Ugarova and Tatyana Myazina.

The investigation on which the commission relied in its document was largely based on the testimony and materials of a married couple: the former chief specialist of the Russian anti-doping service, Vitaly Stepanov, and his wife, Yulia Stepanova. She, as a member of the Russian national athletics team, was able to record several video and audio clips that formed the basis of the case. The records show how Russian coaches and sports officials persuade athletes to take doping and give them illegal drugs. The athlete's husband, in turn, told the commission about systematic violations during anti-doping checks. The same materials formed the basis of the documentary film by the famous German journalist Hajo Seppelt, shown by the ARD TV channel. The investigative film “Top Secrets of Doping: How Russia Produces its Winners” was aired a year before the publication of the commission’s report - in December 2014. (By the way, Seppelt, who covered the session of the IOC Executive Committee in Lausanne, in response to the request of the correspondent of the Russia-1 TV channel for an interview, called the guards and warned: “Next time, don’t even try”).

After the publication of the WADA report, events began to develop rapidly.

November 10, 2015 Grigory Rodchenkov, head of RUSADA's Moscow laboratory, resigned.

Photo: The New York Times

11th of November French police arrested former head International Association of Athletics Federations Lamine Diack.

the 13th of November The IAAF Council suspended the membership of the Russian Federation for an indefinite period. Despite the critical situation, IOC President Thomas Bach still suggested that Russian athletes could still go to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 2016. Apparently, hoping for this, the ARAF then agreed with this decision, did not challenge it, and even expressed its readiness to cooperate and implement the recommendations of the IAAF inspectors.

"It was key moment for Russia, when it was still possible to turn around, to return the situation to normal: to carry out reforms in the doping control system, to establish the admission of WADA doping officers to Russian athletes and inspectors to closed cities, in a word, to establish a climate of mutual trust, - says NT Canadian sports analyst Gilles Carbonneau. “But instead, Russian sports officials began to deny everything.”

2016: Salt, water, Duchess

January 2016 the former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory (RUSADA structure), 56-year-old Grigory Rodchenkov, is leaving Russia for the United States. The reason is fears for their safety.

And already in February of the same year, two former RUSADA employees died unexpectedly and suddenly in Russia - February 3rd Vyacheslav Sinev died, and The 14th of February Nikita Kamaev.

Later, in an interview with The New York Times, the escaped Rodchenkov suggested that Kamaev's death was connected, among other things, with the fact that he wrote memoirs that were later to be included in the book. According to Rodchenkov, he warned Kamaev that at least the book should not be written on a computer and announced publicly. Rodchenkov himself, as it turned out, kept a handwritten diary. The entries in 2014 were made with a pen donated by Kamaev.

May 2016 Rodchenkov gave a detailed interview to The New York Times, which had the effect of a bombshell. Rodchenkov explained in detail how the urine tests given by athletes before the Sochi Olympics were substituted.

Every evening he received from sports officials a list of athletes whose samples needed to be swapped. Athletes also submitted photographs of their completed doping control forms to determine which urine sample was theirs.

On receiving the signal, usually after midnight, Rodchenkov went to room 124, which was adjacent to the sampling site (room 125), where the cherished bottles of urine were kept. Room 124 was officially designated as a warehouse, but Rodchenkov and his team turned it into a laboratory.

Through a hole made in the wall between the two rooms, Rodchenkov passed hermetically packed samples to the neighboring "warehouse". There they were picked up, according to Rodchenkov, an FSB officer, taken to a nearby building and returned some time later with the lids open but intact. (Later in the WADA report, the name of the officer in charge of the substitution was named Evgeny Blokhin).

And already Rodchenkov and his team filled the bottles with "clean" urine - the one that the athletes passed some time before the Games. If necessary, ordinary table salt and water were added to it - a professional chemist and athlete Rodchenkov knew well how to make sure that the sample did not arouse suspicion.

He also knew perfectly well what to do to make the athletes win. In his diaries, which The New York Times published just a week before the IOC decision on the participation of the Russian team at the Pyeongchen Olympics, as the leadership of the Center sports training The national team watered the athletes with the Duchess cocktail developed by him - a mixture of three anabolics and a martini.

“Athletes all over the world are guilty of doping, and in terms of the number of athletes punished for doping, the United States is ahead of Russia. But only in Russia, at least to date, doping has functioned as an institutional system.”

July 2016: The McLaren Report

Based on the diary and testimony of Rodchenkov, whose whereabouts in America are carefully hidden (many are convinced that he fell under the witness protection program), a new WADA report appeared in July 2016 - the now disavowing triumph of the Sochi Games. The report became known under the name of the head of the WADA commission to investigate allegations of doping fraud at the 2014 Olympics, Richard McLaren, a law professor from the University of Western Ontario (Canada).

Richard McLaren
Photo: howsport.ru

In the first part, published on July 18, 2016, the McLaren Commission charged Russia with the same accusations as with the London Olympics - the use of doping, the substitution of samples by the Moscow and Sochi anti-doping laboratories, the concealment and destruction of positive samples. All this, according to the commission, sports officials did with the knowledge and with the participation of employees of the Ministry of Sports. In addition, the FSB was responsible for ensuring clean sample results.

Here are just a few key takeaways from the report:

The Moscow laboratory worked under the total control of state bodies.

The Disappearance Methodology was a government-managed system approved following the disastrous performance of Russian Olympians at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.<…>

Through the efforts of the FSB, a method was developed to discreetly open the containers with analyzes in order to ensure the substitution of samples. The cornerstone was the formation of a bank of clean samples, from which samples were taken for substitution.

At a convenient time, usually around midnight, when no one else was in the room, the staff member would pass the A and B samples of protected athletes through a hole in the wall,<…>where Dr. Rodchenkov and others were waiting for them.

The FSB had an operating room and a bedroom on the 4th floor of the laboratory building, and FSB Blokhin had access to the laboratory under the guise of a plumber.<…>Witnesses say that Blokhin entered the building in the evening, when others were leaving.<…>Blokhin brought clean samples (B) of athletes to the laboratory from the FSB building.

The very next day after the publication of the report, July 19, 2016, the IOC executive committee made preliminary decisions regarding the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. It was decided that officials from the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation and any persons affected by the report, including coaches and athletes, would not receive accreditation at the Games. With regard to athletes, the issue of their participation should have been decided by the respective sports federations on an individual basis. As a result, 107 athletes were admitted to the Games. A tougher decision was made on the Paralympians. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) did not allow them to the Games, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAC) in Lausanne (Switzerland) later confirmed this decision.

December 2016 McLaren presented the second part of the report (150 pages) on the use of doping in Russian sports. According to the report, Russia used a "unique deception scheme" that involved more than a thousand athletes representing winter and summer views sports. However, not a single name of the athletes was named.

The WADA report claimed that former Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko and his deputy Yuri Nagornykh were involved in the manipulation of doping samples. McLaren was confident that in 2012, with the help of Rodchenkov, doping in Russia moved from a regime of "uncontrolled chaos" to a "legalized, controlled and disciplined" system.

In general, the new McLaren report fully confirmed the conclusions contained in its first part. The second report indicated that 44 Sochi Olympic medal-winning samples had been rechecked, and 12 of them contained damage and marks inside the test tubes. In the samples of two gold medalists of the Sochi Olympics at once, they found such an amount of salt that cannot be present in the urine of a healthy person (Rodchenkov still oversalted). The names of the athletes were not called, but it was noted that these two athletes won four Olympic gold. In addition, two members of the Russian women's hockey team had male DNA in doping tests, and in a number of cases, foreign DNA was present in different urine samples from allegedly one athlete. Sometimes positive doping tests were replaced not by pure blanks of the same athletes, but simply by other people's analyzes. “Third-party actions were also carried out with the urine of 21 Sochi Paralympic medalists,” McLaren concluded.

Its commission also concluded that the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory on several occasions during the preliminary testing of doping samples, in some cases, simply concealed positive samples if they could not be replaced. The decision on each such case was made personally by the Deputy Minister of Sports Nagornykh, the report says.

The system has been operating since 2011, the Russians used doping until RUSADA's accreditation was revoked in 2015: at the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, in London in 2012, as well as at the World Championships in Athletics in Moscow in 2013 and at the Universiade in Kazan 2012.

Thomas Bach, who is on friendly terms with Putin and who himself was delighted with the organization of the Games in Sochi, wanted to be absolutely sure of the fault of Russia as a state.

Many sports analysts believe that it was the second part of the McLaren report that made the greatest impression on IOC President Thomas Bach: the document contained evidence of the systemic use of doping in Russia in almost all sports, including the “disappearing samples” method (those same bottles) - the system was very effective and allowed Russian athletes to take doping right during the competition.

“Athletes around the world are guilty of doping, and the United States is ahead of Russia in terms of the number of athletes punished for doping,” states Gilles Carbonneau. “But the problem is something else: only in Russia, at least to date, the use and promotion of doping has functioned as an institutional system.”

2016–2017: Oswald and Schmidt Commissions

* Denis Oswald, former member of the IOC Presidium for Switzerland, 13-time Swiss champion in rowing, upon graduation sports career became a lawyer. Samuel Schmid - former Swiss minister, responsible for the army and sports

Thomas Bach, who is on friendly terms with Putin and was himself enthusiastic about the organization of the Sochi Games, wanted to be 100% sure that Russia as a state was to blame. To this end, in July 2016, the IOC decided to create its own commissions led by Denis Oswald and Samuel Schmid* to conduct two independent investigations into the doping scandal. The first rechecked doping tests from the Sochi Games, the second - the involvement of employees of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation in concealing violations of Russian athletes. By the way, literally on the eve of the Lausanne session of the IOC executive committee, the Swiss newspaper TagesAnzeiter was surprised that it was Schmid, who had absolutely no experience in investigating sports fraud, who was entrusted to head the commission - they say, would it not be more practical to resort to the services of professionals. However, on the side of Schmid - an impeccable reputation. The one that Mutko no longer has. And there are already enough pro experts in the Schmid commission.

At the beginning of November 2017 Rodchenkov, who once promised with his revelations to “destroy olympic sport in Russia for the next 5-6 years”, according to the British newspaper The Daily Mail, gave new sworn testimony to the Oswald and Schmidt commissions. As a result of the first published results of the work of the Oswald Commission Russian skiers Evgeny Belov and Alexander Legkov were accused of using illegal drugs and deprived of gold at the Sochi Olympics. They were also banned from further participation in the Olympics. The final crushing blow was dealt to the Sochi Olympics.

TO November 29, 2017 As a result of the doping scandal, Russia lost a total of 13 medals. A number of athletes have been banned from international competition for life.

The price of triumph at the 2014 Olympics turned out to be much higher: a ruined reputation, a humiliated country and a broken fate of a whole generation of Russian athletes

2017, November-December: Before and after Lausanne

November 16, 2017 The board of founders of WADA decided to refuse RUSADA to restore membership. WADA considered two points of the roadmap unfulfilled: Russia did not fully recognize the conclusions of the McLaren Commission on the systemic use of doping in Russia and did not provide access to doping samples sealed by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation as part of an investigation into a criminal case against .... Grigory Rodchenkov.

Meanwhile, in Russia, all the blame for the doping scandal was shifted solely to Rodchenkov, who was charged with two criminal cases. in November 2017, he himself distributed doping among athletes and coaches, and also had access to the database of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory and could change it while already in the United States.

However, this version of the events of three years ago did not convince the IOC. As the reorganization in RUSADA did not convince, including the change of leadership, which even seemed to be positively received by the Olympic officials. Neither the Kremlin's attempts to avoid an aggravation of the situation, nor the various signals sent to the IOC - do not bring Russia to boycott the Olympics (as stated by the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov), nor the good personal relations between Putin and Bach could stop that snowball , which began to pick up speed on the slopes of Sochi, and stopped at the approaches to the South Korean Pyeongchang. The triumph at the 2014 Olympics was ensured by the mutual responsibility of liars and schemers in power. The price of this triumph turned out to be too high: a ruined reputation, a humiliated country and a broken fate of a whole generation of Russian athletes.

The economic sanctions were followed by sports sanctions - and at the very moment when Putin's plans, as political scientist Kirill Rogov aptly noted, did not include a new round of confrontation with the West

But this is not the end yet. After the decision of the IOC, politics will inevitably invade the sport, and quite heavily and perhaps even rudely. Our fellow citizens last years The authorities persistently, using all methods and forms of propaganda, convinced them that they were living in a regime of a besieged fortress - there were enemies all around, they did not like Russia ... Now, sports sanctions have followed the economic sanctions. And they followed at the very moment when, as political scientist Kirill Rogov aptly noted, Putin's plans did not include a new round of confrontation with the West. It turns out that this confrontation already follows its own logic and the Kremlin is unable to influence it. Therefore, many analysts, remembering after the decision of the IOC in Lausanne that Russia had previously rejected the option of participating in the 2018 Games under neutral flag, ask the question: how will Putin answer?

Most likely, Kirill Rogov ironically on his Facebook, from tomorrow we will be told that Rodchenkov invented everything about the hole in the wall through which the Olympic urine was substituted. Just as before, Litvinenko and the British came up with everything about polonium, and the "dill" with the West - about a Malaysian Boeing shot down by a Russian "beech". Well, and so on.

On the evening of December 5, members of the Russian delegation in Lausanne, after the IOC decision was made public, held a press conference only for Russian journalists. And foreigners were ordered not to let them in. Apparently, as foreign agents.

— Russian s the athletes lost the opportunity to compete at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro based on the report of Richard McLaren. This report, as it now notes WADA, does not meet many criteria and cannot be the basis for a number of accusations ...

- If you remember, in the case of Rio, the issue of eligibility was referred to various international federations - on the basis that they probably know better the doping status of the athletes. The IOC received recommendations, and a commission of three members of the executive board unanimously made a decision, but based on the relevant conclusions.

- Why was the principle of collective responsibility applied to Russia, which was not considered in relation to other countries whose athletes were accused of doping?

“With the same amount of evidence that we have for Russia, this principle would be applied to other countries as well. In the case of Russia, the situation is as if the driver on the freeway was stopped for speeding, and he said to the policeman: “Why did you detain me? There are a lot of people going faster than me!” The answer is: “Perhaps. And someday we'll catch them too. But now you've been caught."

What is being done to catch them? We hear only arguments about "what to do to stop Russia", that Russia is to blame. In all this, if you like, the “prosecution of violators” is now being conducted only in relation to Russia. It feels like no one else is exposed to it.

Russia is now in the spotlight. Trying in the media to present everything as if this problem is not in Russia, but in the IOC or WADA, is fundamentally wrong. Russia has a problem with doping. At least there was a general ban on athletes, and given the situation, I think that's right. I also agree with the similar decision of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Many federations have been hopelessly compromised by relations with Russia. For example, it was important for senior officials of the International Association of Athletics Federations to hold many events and championships on the territory of Russia - that is, the assessment of athletes was uneven.

It seems to me that they coped very well with this in rowing, but has at least one judoka been banned? Can you guess why? Who is the Honorary President of the International Judo Federation?

Do you think there are deeper problems with the federations themselves? I wanted to point out that international union biathletes ( IBU) called the McLaren report controversial and closed 22 of the 29 open cases. As a result, sports federations make such statements, while the McLaren report refers to a thousand athletes, but confirmation has not appeared. Do you think federations are just trying to hush up doping scandals in their sports?

- From experience I can say that the international federations as a group approach the identification of positive doping tests without enthusiasm. But now WADA has received a database, access to which McLaren, according to him, was not provided. The agency is studying it and, I believe, sees that everything is exactly as McLaren said, it is only necessary to get evidence. You can find data on doping tests that testify against you - tests that were positive, but then appeared as negative. And this is possible only if there is a well-established scheme.

— Head of Compliance CommitteeWADAJonathan Taylor said that RUSADA cannot be reinstated without recognizing the McLaren report.

- The Russian Anti-Doping Agency accepted almost everything that was said in the McLaren report, but does not agree with the accusations that some kind of doping program was carried out with state support. There is no evidence for this, but for RUSADA there is vicious circle. Is the agency expected to plead guilty to something for which there is no concrete evidence?

- The road map was discussed with the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, and it agreed to it. Agreed to give access to this database and samples held because a criminal investigation is ongoing. Agreed to take responsibility for the system of state support for the use of doping and provide access to closed cities. Those were the agreements.

But there is such a principle as the burden of proof— the rule of distribution between the participants in the process of the obligation to substantiate the existence of certain circumstances that are essential for resolving the case.

— Ready to repeat: those were the agreements. But they do not want to recognize the existence of a system of state support for the use of doping. They agreed to this, and now they are trying to back down.

- Testimony of informants - Grigory Rodchenkov and those who still remain anonymous are cited as evidence. But it is not customary to consider such information in court. Why then did they make an exception in this case?

“That's perfectly acceptable when the physical safety of witnesses is at stake. Many courts provide for this possibility.

— Rodchenkov said he was coerced into participating in a state-supported doping program. But it should be noted that participation in the activities of RUSADA and doping schemes brought him a lot of money. Why do you think he didn't make his revealing statements sooner?

- In the period before the Olympic Games in Sochi, Rodchenkov was part of the system. Then, after the publication of the report of the commission headed by me, he lost his post as head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory. Subsequently, he became aware of the death of first one, and then - less than two weeks later - the second of his predecessor in this position. Suspecting that things were not going well for him, he decided to leave the country.

As for his revealing statements, I got acquainted with Grigory's testimony as part of the investigation of our commission. It follows from them that he was part of the system and was in no hurry to shed light on the violations being committed - and this is not surprising ... He knew perfectly well about the violations.

There were two other informants. They occupied low positions and were very well trained, and their words were in many respects trustworthy, as well as Rodchenkov's testimony. However, McLaren did not take his words at face value - all information emanating from him was compared with the testimony of other witnesses, information from documents and other sources, and only then was regarded as reliable.

- Rodchenkov's testimony formed the basis of the McLaren report and statements about the existence in Russia of a state system to support doping in sports ...

- Testimony and documents.

- But, in addition, it is alleged that the FSB officers opened containers with doping tests and changed their contents. Berlinger - their manufacturer - said that it was impossible to open them without leaving physical traces of the opening.

The company is absolutely right. Physical traces have been found. When examining containers that were opened in order to replace their contents, scratches were found. If you know what you are looking for, it is very easy to spot them. There could be only one reason for the appearance of such traces: they were opened. Why would they open up?

- Returning to the Olympics in Sochi: it was attended by 20 international observers who monitored doping tests. Why didn't any of them pay attention to it? After all, that was their job, wasn't it?

The change took place late at night. Through a part of the FSB-controlled laboratory, to which no one else had access. Through a hole in the wall. The director of the anti-doping laboratory from Montreal (or from Rome, or wherever) was not in the building at that time. There is nothing surprising in this - the duties of the director of the laboratory do not include catching FSB officers, who, moreover, are there under the guise of repair personnel.

- If what you say really happened, it turns out that the laboratory made a serious omission in ensuring the safe storage of doping samples.

- Yes. And the problem is that this omission was deliberate. That's the problem.

- You are a representative of the International Olympic Committee. It must be admitted that the McLaren report raises certain questions. Is it in the spirit of the Olympics that such large-scale suspensions are based on a report that many sports bodies say is flawed?

- Decisions to suspend athletes were made by the IOC Disciplinary Commission under the leadership of Denis Oswald on the basis of specific and sufficient evidence. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld these decisions. It's not about any persecution, it's more about following the rules. If you break the rules, you will be punished.

You stressed that the decision was not politically motivated. Nevertheless, one gets the impression that the decisions made in sports are largely political in nature. What do you say to that?

“I don’t think so—at least in this case. In sports there is a place for geopolitical and political considerations, the desire for equality between continents and gender balance. All this is taken into account when choosing venues. sports events. But this does not hide the lobbying of the interests of this or that capital. It's not that some countries have privileges and others don't.

- You have been in sports for a long time, you know how everything is arranged in administrative terms. It is difficult to remember when such close attention was previously focused exclusively on Russia in connection with doping. Despite another scandal in Kenya and claims that many British cyclists suffer from asthma, these athletes receive much less attention than Russian ones. Why?

“We have clear evidence of government-supported fraud. It is unacceptable.

- Despite the fact that the McLaren report raises questions, and there is no strong evidence, you still claim that doping is supported at the state level in Russia.

- Yes. In my opinion, there was a lot of evidence for this, but not enough for McLaren to have reason to blame specific athletes, but he did not. He noted: "I have no such information, but there are records indicating that they were on the list of protected athletes." McLaren did not draw any conclusions about which he would have any reasonable doubt, which is one of the standards of proof in criminal proceedings.

Thus, I believe that the McLaren report was mishandled: the IOC members, instead of taking note of this information and saying: “Thank you for shedding light on all these violations”, brushed aside the report and called the McLaren conclusions “statements”. This is rather disrespectful to an extremely experienced arbitrator who has repeatedly conducted investigations.

Amendments to the anti-doping legislation are planned to apply not only to coaches, but also to instructors, doctors and other personnel interacting with the athlete. Each of them will be able to be suspended from work if the fact of manipulation with a prohibited drug is established even outside the competitive period. Such norms are contained in the draft law submitted for consideration by the State Duma, the second reading of which is already scheduled for early December. At the same time, the deputies will consider an initiative to create an industry certification system sports coaches. The Ministry of Sports told Izvestia that they support both innovations. Experts believe that in order to solve the problem, first of all, effective law enforcement and “anti-doping education” are required.

The State Duma is preparing for the second reading two draft amendments to amend the law “On physical culture and sports in Russian Federation". Both were introduced in September 2017 by deputies from the LDPR, and later supported by the relevant committee, parliamentarians from other factions and the Ministry of Sports. At the same time, the authors of the documents were recommended to finalize them. The amendments are already ready, and in December the drafts are planned to be considered at a meeting of the chamber.

The initiative to suspend coaches for violating Russian and international anti-doping rules implies three reasons for such a decision. The first is if a mentor finds a prohibited drug or proves that he distributed it (both during and outside the competition). The second is an attempt to falsify control samples, and the third is if “facts of intentional complicity” in doping by an athlete are established.

In November, the government introduced its additions to the bill, proposing to expand the Labor Code with a similar norm. Also, amendments (Izvestia has them) were prepared by one of the authors of the project, Dmitry Svishchev (LDPR) and Valery Gazzaev (Fair Russia). The deputies proposed to include in the list of those who fall under the law, “other specialists in the field of physical education and sports." As practice shows, anti-doping rules are often violated by instructors, specialists in sports medicine or other athlete personnel, MPs said.

The second bill is aimed at creating a system for attesting coaches, including Russian national teams. There are three categories: second, first and highest. The criteria for certification will be approved by the Ministry of Sports. The decision on awarding a certificate will be made by regional executive authorities and all-Russian sports federations.

The adoption of the proposed norms will make it possible to move forward along the path of increasing the level of professional skills of coaches, the effectiveness of their activities, and also, importantly, to attract young personnel to the industry, - Deputy Dmitry Svishchev, one of the authors of the project, emphasized in a conversation with Izvestia.

He said that for the second reading of the bill, a number of additions to it, together with parliamentarians and the professional community, were prepared by the Ministry of Sports. Thus, it is proposed to certify not only coaches, but also other industry specialists. The Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation should subsequently approve their list, as well as qualification requirements and the procedure for assigning categories. The assignment of the lowest - the second - category can be entrusted to local governments. In addition, the possibility of introducing an additional qualification category is being discussed.

The deputy stressed that both bills are aimed at improving Russian sports legislation and bringing it into line with world practice.

The Ministry of Sports supports both projects and is interested in their adoption, Natalya Parshikova, deputy head of the department, told Izvestia.

The bills are very important and relevant. The initiative to certify coaches is in line with the instructions of the president and will allow the industry to develop. The anti-doping rule is also overdue and will improve anti-doping measures in accordance with the plan developed by the independent public anti-doping commission, the Deputy Minister explained.

The problem of doping cannot be solved only by changing the law - this is a matter of law enforcement, says Anatoly Peskov, a lecturer at the Russian International Olympic University and a member of the board of directors of the International Sports Law Association. We need to put things in order first of all sports clubs and federations, to apply existing norms and "implant" a complete rejection of doping, the expert believes.

December 11, 2016, 14:43

In September 2001, during the competitions of the Goodwill Games, a sample taken from two Russian gymnasts Alina Kabaeva And Irina Chashchina, showed the presence of furosemide, which in itself is not considered doping, but is included in the list of prohibited substances, as it can mask the presence of other drugs. International Federation gymnastics disqualified them for a period of two years. During the first year, the gymnasts did not have the right to take part in any competitions, the second year of disqualification was given conditionally. Athletes were stripped of all awards from the Goodwill Games and the 2001 World Championship.

Alina Kabaeva

Irina Chashchina

In February 2002, the day before Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, it became known that in the body of a Russian skier Natalia Baranova-Masalkina an elevated erythrocyte count was found. Russian athlete was suspended from participation in competitions and disqualified for two years.

On the last day of the Olympics, representatives of the International Olympic Committee reported that Russian skiers Larisa Lazutina And Olga Danilova disqualified. Athletes were stripped of all medals won at the Olympics. Olga Danilova lost "gold" and "silver", Larisa Lazutina was deprived of gold and two silver medals.

Larisa Lazutina

In August 2004, the Athens Olympic Games set a record for the most doping bans. There were more than 20 of them. Russians were among the athletes caught doping - weightlifter Albina Khomich and shot putter Irina Korzhanenko, runner Anton Galkin.

Albina Khomich

In February 2006, during the XX winter Olympic Games in Turin, the first doping scandal erupted a few hours before the opening of the Olympics. Russians Natalya Matveeva, Pavel Korostelev and Nikolai Pankratov were suspended from participation in the competition for five days. On the seventh day of the Olympics in Turin, doping tests taken from a Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva, which won the Olympic "silver" in the 15 km race, gave a positive result. She was convicted of using the illegal drug carphedon and was banned for two years. As it became known later, carphedon was part of a therapeutic drug used by a skier to more quickly restore a damaged ankle.

Natalia Matveeva

Nikolai Pankratov

Olga Pyleva

In January 2008, the International Rowing Federation (FISA) threatened to disqualify all Russian team. The reason was that during the year seven Russian athletes were caught using doping or violating anti-doping procedures. In 2006 Olga Samulenkova was suspended for two years for exceeding testosterone levels and stripped of her World Championship gold medal. In July 2007, a two-year suspension for intravenous injections received Vladimir Varfolomeev, Denis Moiseev And Svetlana Fedorova. In January 2008, three more athletes were banned for two years - Alexandra Litvincheva, Evgenia Luzyanina And Ivan Podshivalova.

In August 2008, 7 Russian athletes were immediately suspended from participating in all tournaments held under the auspices of the IAAF, including the Olympics, for doping violations - Elena Soboleva(running 800 m and 1500 m), Tatiana Tomashova(1500 m), Yulia Fomenko(1500 m), Gulfiya Khanafeyeva(hammer throwing), Daria Pishchalnikova(discus throw) Svetlana Cherkasova(800 m) and Olga Egorova(1500 m and 5000 m). In addition to Egorova and Cherkasova, everyone else was part of the Russian Olympic team.

Elena Soboleva and Yulia Fomenko in the foreground

Tatiana Tomashova

Daria Pishchalnikova

Svetlana Cherkasova

All data taken up to 2009