The IAAF, the governing body of global athletics, has suspended Russia after being found guilty of tampering with thousands of its athletes’ test tubes in past competitions. In a report by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), a repentant inspector from RUSADA (the state anti-doping agency, which the Agency has requested be suspended) confessed the anguish he endured from the moment he took the athlete’s urine (or blood) sample to the moment it was delivered to the Moscow laboratory. FSB (formerly KGB) operatives followed him every step of the way, demanding to know the test tube codes: they kept the technicians informed as they prepared to tamper with them. WADA has highlighted the regular transfers from athletes seeking to cover up their positive results. Rodchenko consistently falsified the tests and, in 2014, ordered the immediate destruction of 1,417 urine samples that WADA had requested to be re-examined. Astonished, the inspectors discovered the existence, in Moscow, of a “parallel” state laboratory, better equipped than the official one, directed by the scientist Bezhanishvili.
