Grigory Rodchenkov

Rodchenkov later described that the Soviet Union's state-sponsored doping program served as a model for Russia's program in the 21st century, with Vladimir Putin merely continuing what Joseph Stalin started.

Grigory Mikhailovich Rodchenkov (Григорий Михайлович Родченков; born 24 October 1958) is the former head of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory, the Anti-Doping Center.

Rodchenkov is known for his involvement in the state-run doping program in Russia.

In 1985, he started working at the Moscow Anti-Doping Centre.

In 1986, he worked at the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow and co-discovered 14 positive samples, including those of sprinter Ben Johnson.

However, the announcement was not made because the sports and party leaders of the USSR did not want to cause a scandal.

In 1994, he moved to Interlab.

When he returned to Russia, he worked for different petrochemical companies.

He joined the Anti-Doping Centre in Calgary for the 1998 Winter Olympics.

From July 2006 until November 2015 he worked as the director of the Anti-Doping Center, then Russia's only laboratory accredited by WADA.

Shortly after release of the IC report, WADA suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center, which Rodchenkov had headed since 2006.

In 2011, Russian authorities opened an investigation against Rodchenkov's sister, champion runner Marina Rodchenkova, for buying and possessing banned drugs that she admitted she had intended to supply to athletes.

Rodchenkov was also arrested in relation to this investigation and questioned on suspicion of sourcing and selling banned drugs.

He was placed in a psychiatric hospital for schizotypal personality disorder following a suicide attempt after charges were filed against him.

Charges against him were eventually dropped, but his sister was convicted and jailed in December 2012.

At the time, Rodchenkov was the director of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory.

Rodchenkov claims that he was not jailed by Russian authorities in 2012 because they had earmarked him to dope their athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

In June/July 2013, British journalist Nick Harris informed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and WADA about this criminal drug case and suspicions of Rodchenkov's involvement, but this information was apparently ignored.

In November 2015, the Independent Commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) determined that Rodchenkov was "at the heart of the positive drug test coverup", and that he had been directly involved with concealing positive tests and destroying 1,417 urine samples.

In 2015 the WADA Independent Commission (IC) made numerous accusations against Rodchenkov.

The IC established that Rodchenkov "not only accepted, but also requested money" from athletes in order to conceal their positive test results.

"Rodchenkov had personally instructed and authorized the disposal of 1,417 samples" prior to the arrival in Moscow of a WADA audit team, which "directly defied and violated the WADA directives".

In addition, "Rodchenkov instructed that all records showing the existence of the samples, as well as any documentation of the resulting analysis, be destroyed."

Rodchenkov later admitted that he destroyed the samples on purpose in order to limit the extent of WADA's audit.

The IC report concluded that Rodchenkov was "at the heart of the positive drug test coverup".

Rodchenkov made headlines in 2016 after an interview to The New York Times exposing the doping program in Russia.

Rodchenkov said he developed a three-drug cocktail of banned substances that he mixed with liquor and provided to dozens of athletes at the Sochi Olympics.

Rodchenkov's allegations were confirmed by the independent McLaren Report, leading to Russia's partial bans from the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics.

Since the revelations became public, Rodchenkov has been living in hiding, under witness protection.

In January 2016, fearing for his safety, Rodchenkov boarded a flight from Moscow to Los Angeles.

He settled in the United States and entered the witness protection program.

Two major Russian anti-doping executives, Vyacheslav Sinev and Rodchenkov's friend Nikita Kamaev, unexpectedly died in the months after the doping scandal started.

Rodchenkov discussed doping at the Sochi Olympics with whistle-blower Vitaly Stepanov, who recorded 15 hours of their conversations without Rodchenkov's knowledge.

Rodchenkov also gave details to The New York Times, alleging that Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB, previously KGB) was involved in covering up positive doping samples.

In July 2016, the McLaren Report, an independent investigation commissioned by WADA, found corroborating evidence after conducting witness interviews, reviewing thousands of documents, cyber analysis of hard drives, forensic analysis of urine-sample collection bottles, and laboratory analysis of individual athlete samples, with "more evidence becoming available by the day".

Rodchenkov and his connections to Russian doping were the subject of the 2017 Netflix documentary Icarus, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 90th Oscars ceremony.

Rodchenkov was born in Moscow.

His mother worked as a doctor at Kremlin Hospital (now Central Clinical Hospital).

Throughout school he was involved in athletics and during his studies he was a member of the MSU national team and met the standard of the Master of Sports in Athletics.

Rodchenkov graduated from Moscow State University and received his Ph.D. in chemistry with a focus on chemical kinetics and catalysis.