WADA told of Russian doping: report

A whistleblower into Russia's doping program says he alerted WADA to the alleged wrongdoing more than 200 times.

A whistleblower who uncovered systemic doping inside Russia's track team says he sent more than 200 emails about the cheating to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which told him it didn't have the power to investigate inside the country.

In a US TV interview on Sunday, Vitaly Stepanov, a former worker at the Russian anti-doping agency, said WADA eventually told he and his wife, 800-metre runner Yulia, to talk to a German TV network that had produced a documentary in 2014 on alleged state-sponsored Russian doping.

WADA spokesman Ben Nichols said before 2015, WADA didn't have authority to conduct its own investigations, and officials didn't think turning the information over to Russian investigators "would have led to the scrutiny required."

Stepanov also told the American 60 Minutes program that the former head of Russia's anti-doping lab told him four Russian gold-medal winners at the Sochi Olympics were on steroids.


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Source: AAP



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