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[Piecake]

LOS ANGELES — Dozens of Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, including at least 15 medal winners, were part of a state-run doping program, meticulously planned for years to ensure dominance at the Games, according to the director of the country’s antidoping laboratory at the time.

The director, Grigory Rodchenkov, who ran the laboratory that handled testing for thousands of Olympians, said he developed a three-drug cocktail of banned substances that he mixed with liquor and provided to dozens of Russian athletes, helping to facilitate one of the most elaborate — and successful — doping ploys in sports history.

It involved some of Russia’s biggest stars of the Games, including 14 members of its cross-country ski team and two veteran bobsledders who won two golds.

In a dark-of-night operation, Russian antidoping experts and members of the intelligence services surreptitiously replaced urine samples tainted by performance-enhancing drugs with clean urine collected months earlier, somehow breaking into the supposedly tamper-proof bottles that are the standard at international competitions, Dr. Rodchenkov said. For hours each night, they worked in a shadow laboratory lit by a single lamp, passing bottles of urine through a hand-size hole in the wall, to be ready for testing the next day, he said.

By the end of the Games, Dr. Rodchenkov estimated, as many as 100 dirty urine samples were expunged.

None of the athletes were caught doping. More important, Russia won the most medals of the Games, easily surpassing its main rival, the United States, and undermining the integrity of one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events.

“People are celebrating Olympic champion winners, but we are sitting crazy and replacing their urine,” Dr. Rodchenkov said. “Can you imagine how Olympic sport is organized?”

...

After the report came out, Dr. Rodchenkov said, Russian officials forced him to resign. Fearing for his safety, he moved to Los Angeles, with the help of Mr. Fogel.

Back in Russia, two of Dr. Rodchenkov’s close colleagues died unexpectedly in February, within weeks of each other; both were former antidoping officials, one who resigned soon after Dr. Rodchenkov fled the country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html

 

[valkillmore]

And was never heard from again.

 

[Sanjuro]

 

[kirblar]

You forgot the SHOCKING NEWS part.

 

[Yaboosh]

Is that really worth it for bobsledders?

 

[HStallion]

One of the best documentaries on the cold war hostilities between the US and Soviet Union

 

[Piecake]

Is that really worth it for bobsledders?

The beginning push before you start to steer the thing seems pretty important, and being jacked up on steriods probably helps with the needed muscle burst

 

[Oersted]

Lets hope for a not so bad impact on their health

 

[Lagamorph]

Russia in State funded doping.

In other even more shocking news, fire found to be hot.

 

[Imm0rt4l]

You forgot the SHOCKING NEWS part.

This

 

[SwiftDeath]

It really has to feel awful if you learn you lost to someone who was doping

Assuming you yourself didn't dope as it's probably unlikely Russia is the only country to have athletes who had been doping.

 

[Kifimbo]

Is that really worth it for bobsledders?

They are all good drivers (except Jamaicans). However, the push phase at the start is crucial. And considering the margin between winning and missing the podium is less than 1 seconds over four one-minute run...well.

 

[Camwi]

And was never heard from again.

Dude, read the OP. He escaped to the US, but two of his colleagues died "expectantly".

Fucking Russia.

 

[Horns]

Russia and Putin will deny the charges as western propaganda. Nothing will come of it.

 

[The Jackdog]

so with the absolute clusterfuck that is the rio olympics right now, will russia see anything from this? even a wrist slap?

 

[funkystudent]

Literally read the thread title and went looking for a gif of Drago getting injected with steroids.


This is the best I can find.

 

[TacticalHotdog]

Dude, read the OP. He escaped to the US, but two of his colleagues died "expectantly".

Fucking Russia.

That's never stopped them in the past.

 

[Dabanton]

Lol on which crazy planet was any of this worth the time or expense?

 

[The Jackdog]

Lol on which crazy planet was any of this worth the time or expense?

putin said theyd win a bunch of gold.

so in turn, putin ordered them to win a bunch of gold

 

[Dabanton]

so with the absolute clusterfuck that is the rio olympics right now, will russia see anything from this? even a wrist slap?

With the corporate interests? Probably not.

And as someone else says Putin will say it's a western plot as usual.

 

[Camwi]

That's never stopped them in the past.

I don't know what you're talking about. I'm sure that was all a big misunderstanding. >_>

 

[Pedrito]

I remember the russian sweep in the 50 km freestyle raised quite a few eyebrows at the time. Russia also admitted that their skiers were huffing xenon, which was legal back then.

 

[funkystudent]

I don't know what you're talking about. I'm sure that was all a big misunderstanding. >_>

"What? You wanted sugar in your coffee? Thought you said Plutonium."