Whistleblower who exposed state-sponsored doping of Russian athletes claims Putin freed him from jail to orchestrate the scandal
- Grigory Rodchenkov was head of the Moscow laboratory behind drug cheating
- He has said Putin released him from prison where he was held on drug charges
- He has claimed Putin reinstated him to help athletes dope ahead of Sochi 2014
- The allegations were made in a new documentary called Icarus by Bryan Fogel
The whistleblower who exposed the state-sponsored doping of Russian athletes has claimed Vladimir Putin personally helped orchestrate the scandal.
Grigory Rodchenkov, who was head of the Moscow laboratory behind the widespread drug cheating, says the Russian President ordered his release from prison, where he was being held on drug charges.
Putin then arranged for him to get his job back at the lab to help competitors cheat at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, he said, where success was all-important for the Russians on home soil.
Grigory Rodchenkov, director of the Moscow lab behind Russian doping, said Putin released him from jail to help competitors dope ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
The allegations are made in an explosive new documentary called Icarus, screened for the first time at the Sundance Festival in America on Friday night.
When filmmaker Bryan Fogel asks Rodchenkov on screen who was responsible for his release from prison, he replies: ‘Putin.’
Fogel goes on to ask how he managed to return to work at the lab after his release and Rodchenkov replies: ‘Putin requested me.’
The claims will infuriate President Putin, who has said Rodchenkov has a ‘scandalous reputation’ and ‘dragged all sorts of filth [drugs] into the country as part of a plot to smear Russia’.
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According to claims made in a new documentary titled Icarus Putin reinstated Mr Rodchenkov so that he could help competitors dope in the Sochi Winter Olympics 2014
It is believed more than 1,000 Russian competitors were drug cheats, including many Olympic medal winners at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Sochi 2014.
The full extent of the scandal only became clear when Rodchenkov gave evidence to an inquiry by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Many Russian sportsmen and women have been stripped of medals and honours because of the doping scandal.
In November, it was announced that Britain’s Jessica Ennis-Hill would be awarded her third World Championship heptathlon gold when Tatyana Chernova was stripped of the 2011 title after being exposed as a drugs cheat.
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