Doping Shows Russia Is Rotten, But Not Hopeless

Two findings stand out in the investigation of blatant corruption and cheating in Russia's athletics program: The mindset that doping was acceptable because "everybody's doing it," and the willingness of some athletes, coaches and technical staff to speak out, despite Russia's climate of fear and anti-Westernism.

The investigation, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, stemmed from a documentary by Hajo Seppelt, "Top Secret Doping: How Russia Creates Its Winners," shown by the German TV channel ARD last year. Seppelt, a long-time anti-doping crusader, has uncovered the use of performance drugs and testing shenanigans in various sports and countries, from Germany to Kenya. His Russian expose has been the most sweeping, though, thanks to the help of two Russian whistle-blowers, Vitaly and Yulia Stepanov. The husband used to be a doping control officer, the wife a top 800-meter runner. They didn't only tell Seppelt how coaches, doctors and other officials insisted that athletes take forbidden drugs and how doping control officials were bribed to fix test results; they also surreptitiously recorded conversations with people in the sport to prove the allegations.