© Copyright – 2020 – Athletics Illustrated
The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) will have their day in court as they appeal the 12th extension of their banishment by World Athletics. They have been suspended since 2015 and have apparently failed to demonstrate that they have altered their cheating ways.
The latest scandal, the cover-up of world champion Danil Lysenko’s drug tests, and the subsequent forgery of documents resulted in 12 RusAF administrators or officials being suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
The Russians did what they could to stall the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and their special tactical teams from getting into the Moscow Laboratory to retrieve data from the mainframe computer. Once WADA extracted to data, it was found to be tampered with.
Russia missed several deadlines to pay a fine for their corruption, systematic doping, extortion, and other crimes. They eventually paid some of the fines and continued to ask for more time. In the process heads rolled at RusAF and at the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).
Two books were subsequently published by Russians who were involved in doping and have since blown the whistle on doping practices and are now in exile in the U.S.
The Rodchenkov Affair, a first-person and self-penned biography by Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the person who orchestrated the systematic cover-ups at the Moscow Laboratory and the infamous Sochi Winter Olympic Laboratory. He designed, oversaw its completion, and ran it.
The other book is by award-winning British Journalist David Walsh, who penned The Russian Affair about the relationship of a doping control officer with RusAF and his international 800m runner-wife and their tumultuous relationship.
