© JIRO MOCHIZUKI/PHOTORUNMARIYA SAVINOVA, THE 2012 OLYMPIC 800-METER CHAMPION
According to the WADA, during the Olympic Games in Sochi, KGB agents not only passed vials of urine through a hole in a wall (!), but also in some mysterious way, got the urine samples into sterile containers, adding salt in the process.
Rodchenkov, a Russian defector, treated sportsmen to the alcoholic cocktail "Dushes" of his creation. This magic concoction allegedly helped sportsmen eliminate doping substances faster.
Again, like some low budget movie - the KGB, the holes in walls, adding salt to the urine with a magical vodka-based elixir.... A classic selection of cheap thrills. But the situation is complicated by the fact that the WADA doesn't have standard evidence.
Rodchenkov's statements are not serious. If he is lying, then he is lying, but if he really was a KGB agent, after his defection to the US, he will say anything as long as the Americans don't return him to Russia.
The traces of break-ins in the flasks with the athletes's urine ? First of all, we only know about it from the words of Westerners who have been caught lying before. Secondly, even if it's true, it would be more logical to suspect Mr Rodchenkov who may have been working for the US for a long time.
Grigory Rodchenkov was fired in Russia for doping fraud. His official sports career should have been over, but he almost immediately moved to the US where he and his assistant got very good jobs. The question is, why did Americans give a good job (?) to a criminal , unless this criminal is working for them?
By the way, Vladimir Putin has already requested the WADA provide details of the investigation with which it would be possible to prosecute the offenders, but the organization has remained silent.
We can assume that the WADA doesn't have the evidence - only the defector's words and other stuff which would not be accepted even in a Medieval court. Also, the IOC 's idea about cancelling the presumption of innocence for the Russian athletes is from the Middle Ages. To refuse the presumption of innocence in the 21st century is barbaric.
The USA doesn't understand cooperation. Its tactics are straightforward - but rough: first, they made ridiculous assertions, spreading it through the media, then used this planted news to justify political decisions.
Sometimes this tactic works, sometimes doesn't, but the Americans should be made to pay for it, by destroying the reputation of those who spread the stories. Today, the reputation of the Olympic games is at stake - and the WADA's mess with the Russian athletes could finish with the worst ever crisis in the sports world.
Regardless of this awful story, it's clear that big sports is now far from Pierre de Coubertin's ideals and is moving in wrong direction. Maybe the unfolding drama will help to finally reform it?
Originally appeared at Live Journal.
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