A German TV documentary "has made a sensational claim" that 99% of Russian athletes are guilty of doping, according to the IANS. The documentary alleges that "Russian officials have put a system in place to accept payment from athletes to supply banned substances and cover up tests." The program, broadcast Wednesday, showed former discus thrower Yevgeniya Pecherina claiming that "most, the majority, 99 percent" of athletes selected to represent Russia use banned substances. She said, "You can get absolutely everything. Everything the athlete wants." The World Anti-Doping Agency pledged to "fully investigate" (IANS, 12/4). REUTERS' Dmitriy Rogovitskiy reported Russian Athletics Federation President Valentin Balakhnichev said that the documentary contains "a pack of lies." He said, "I can say that there are a pack of lies and it is an unfair account. I will make a fuller statement on Friday afternoon." The hour-long program "features an undercover video of what it says are Russian athletes and coaches admitting to covering up positive tests." The Int'l Association of Athletics Federations said in a statement that they were "grave allegations." The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) said that "there was nothing to support the allegations." RUSADA Managing Dir Nikita Kamaev said, "They do not have the facts or the documents which support any offences carried out against the anti-doping principles" (REUTERS, 12/4).
IAAF UNDER FIRE: The BBC reported the documentary, shown by Das Erste, also implicates the IAAF "in covering up the abuse." The video "was dubbed into German with the original audio track absent, but the channel said it possessed an unedited version." German pole vaulter and reigning world champion Raphael Holzdeppe said, "Yesterday's documentary was shocking. We can only continue to set a good example and keep pursuing clean sport." The claims of widespread wrongdoing stem principally from former RUSADA official Vitaly Stepanov and his wife Yulia (nee Rusanova), "formerly an 800m runner who was banned for doping." They allege that "leading Russian athletics officials supplied banned substances in exchange for 5% of an athlete's earnings and colluded with doping control officers to hush up and falsify tests." Yulia Stepanova said that "it was also common for Russian athletes to avoid out-of-competition testing by using false names while training abroad" (BBC, 12/4).
