Tamper proof
An investigation gives Moscow a gold medal for cheating
WHEN Grigory Rodchenkov, the erstwhile director of Russia’s anti-doping lab, confessed that he had helped run a state-directed doping programme during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, his story sounded fanciful. He said he had served athletes steroid-spiked cocktails mixed with cognac and vermouth, while Russia’s secret police, the Federal Security Service (FSB), had cracked the supposedly foolproof urine-sample bottles used in international competition. The sports ministry, Mr Rodchenkov claimed, fed lab officials lists of athletes to be protected; their drug-laced samples were swapped for clean ones through a hole in the wall of the Sochi testing facility.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Tamper proof”
From the July 23rd 2016 edition
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