Icarus is a 2017 documentary film that follows the journey of Bryan Fogel, an amateur cyclist who decides to experiment with doping to improve his performance. However, his plan takes an unexpected turn when he meets Grigory Rodchenkov, a Russian scientist who reveals the shocking truth about the state-sponsored doping program in Russia. The film becomes a geopolitical thriller as Fogel and Rodchenkov expose the biggest scandal in sports history, involving dirty urine, unexplained death, and Olympic gold.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2018.
Icarus is streaming on Netflix
* * *
[bat strikes ball]
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] Line drive to right field…
[man] Solemnly swear the testimony you’re about to give will be the truth…
[Marion Jones] I have never, ever failed a drug test.
Before, during and after the Olympics.
Over 160 drug tests.
I have never failed a test.
[woman] For the record, have you ever used human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?
[Lance Armstrong] No.
[man] I’m trying to make sure your testimony’s clear.
[Armstrong] How many times do I have to say it?
I’ve never taken drugs.
[man] You’re winning the Tour de France…
[Armstrong] How clear is that?
[man] …win the Tour de France, like the all-time greats who’ve ever won this big event.
[Armstrong] Extraordinary accusations… must be followed up with extraordinary proof.
And they have not come up with extraordinary proof.
[Bryan Fogel] See…
We have… this mountain bike.
Loading up the Thule rack.
And this is my entire life in the car right now, set up, ready for insanity.
I’m getting ready for the single hardest amateur cycling event in the world.
It’s basically a miniature Tour de France for insane people.
[man] Does it qualify for anything if you do well with it?
[Fogel] Yeah, stupidity.
[both laughing]
I’ve been riding for 28 years seriously, but never as a professional.
Going to these massive amateur events that are not professional, but, I mean, there’s serious guys there. And the… [laughs]
Max! He loves… He’s got a foot fetish.
[man laughs] It tickles!
[Fogel] I certainly didn’t know when I started on this what it was gonna lead to.
When LeMond won that first Tour de France, I was in seventh grade, I think.
[man] Can you believe it? After over 2,000 miles…
His name in French means “the world,” and this is the world of Greg LeMond in Paris today.
[Fogel] Being the first American to win it, it really brought me into the sport.
I ate a wheel going about 40 miles an hour.
I spent my entire freshman year of college with plastic teeth in my mouth.
I would’ve kept racing if it wasn’t for that.
[man] He’s really hurting…
[Fogel] Later, Armstrong came along. That was a whole other ball of wax.
[man] …off the back wheel of Armstrong, they can’t respond to pressure.
[man 2] The gap is there.
He is just going faster and faster and faster.
[man] This has to be the greatest comeback in any sport.
The fact that Armstrong managed to conquer cancer was unbelievable.
Now he’s riding at the front of the Tour de France like a Trojan.
[Fogel] I think I’m a year and a half younger than Lance.
He was kind of my hero.
[Oprah Winfrey] For now, I’d just like a yes or a no.
Did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance?
Yes.
[Fogel] I’d always suspected that he had been doping.
I felt that I didn’t really wanna know.
Because a lot of the guys that he raced with and guys who had raced against him that I’d just known over the years… they were my friends.
If you would’ve had your choice, you would’ve never doped?
[mutters]
[Fogel] Ever?
Up until it directly affected me, I was like, “I think Lance is probably clean.” [chuckles]
[Dave Zabriskie] I don’t know.
It’s… messy.
[Fogel] The way they got him, this is what nobody understood.
[Armstrong] 150 times over the last six years, I’ve been tested.
In competition, out of competition, at home, at a race, seven in the morning, seven at night, whatever, and they’re all clean.
[Fogel] He never failed a drug test.
[indistinct chatter]
[man] Solemnly swear the testimony you’re about to give will be the truth?
[Fogel] It was his teammates who had turned on him as part of the federal investigation.
[crowd cheering]
If this guy had passed, whatever it is, 500 doping tests over his entire career, clearly the system didn’t work.
How many times did you test Lance during his career?
[Don Catlin] As the laboratory of record, I’m estimating that I would’ve tested him 50 times. 5-0.
[Fogel] So you tested Lance 50 times and never caught him?
Correct.
I developed and operated the UCLA Olympic Laboratory for 25 years.
I’m known mostly for developing tests so that athletes get caught if they’re using drugs.
[Fogel] How did you personally feel every year?
Did you believe that it was just Lance?
Do you think that…
They’re all doping.
Every single one of ’em.
Unfortunately, the drugs work. [chuckles]
With certain knowledge, you can get around the testing all the time.
It’s really easy to beat.
Very easy.
[Fogel] Originally, the idea that I had was to prove the system in place to test athletes was bullshit.
I had read about the hardest amateur cycling race on the planet, this seven-day race through the French Alps, called the Haute Route.
If you were to take the hardest seven days in the Tour de France, put ’em all together back-to-back-to-back-to-back, that would be what this Haute Route course was like.
The first year I did it totally clean.
There were 440 masochists.
My goal was to be in the top 100.
After seven days, 75,000 feet of climbing and 1,000 miles…
I was destroyed.
[coughing]
But I finished 14th.
There’s about ten guys, it seems, that are on just another level than everybody else.
Then there’s this next group, and then there’s me.
[Fogel on phone] What did you think of the idea?
[Catlin] Well, in certain senses, I like the idea.
It depends on what you consider to be dangerous…
[Fogel] Right.
[Catlin] …testing yourself on these drugs.
But I was curious, you know, how you were going to do it.
I might be willing to help and advise and… avoid positives.
[Zabriskie] Are you gonna take drugs?
Yeah. Basically, go through… go through an entire doping program, but overseen by the scientist.
I’m gonna have Don Catlin design a program for me that’s gonna get through every single one of the doping controls in the world… clean.
If I could do that and I could get away with it, that would mean that pretty much any athlete could do that and any athlete could get away with it.
[Catlin] You’re going to need a laboratory to test your body fluids.
[Fogel] I wasn’t sure how I was gonna get my samples into the lab yet.
The only labs that test professional athletes are WADA-accredited labs.
[Catlin] WADA is the World Anti-Doping Agency.
[Fogel] The labs are set up that you can’t just go do this.
Because if somebody could just send their samples into a lab, then anybody could figure out how to game the system.
And then…
[Catlin] This could damage my reputation that I’ve worked on for years…
[Fogel] He just started getting worried about his legacy.
[Catlin] My involvement… it’s just not gonna work.
[Fogel] He backed out.
But, you know, God bless Don Catlin, because he told me that he knew this guy…
[Catlin] The director of the Olympic lab in Moscow, Grigory Rodchenkov.
He’s a great old friend.
[Fogel] We talk a few times. He’s in Moscow.
And that set off this whole chain of events.
[ringing]
[woman speaking indistinctly]
[Grigory Rodchenkov] Tell something.
Hi.
Oh! Great.
It’s a secret window. Now it’s clean.
Hmm.
Yeah, you look good now.
Yes, you, too. Go ahead.
[chuckles]
I met with this guy who’s gonna at least, like, prescribe me the protocol.
What is your ultimate purpose? You would like to beat doping test?
You would like to start your hormonal program?
Yes.
Then give sample… and prove negative.
Yes.
Ha, ha, ha.
You need a very serious advisor because there are a lot of traps.
[toy squeaking]
Normally drug… Okay.
[speaking Russian]
[in English] My dog is playing.
I just came back, and he’s very much excited.
And he has a special toy…
[toy squeaking]
Yeah, I hear it.
Hey, you wanna see my dog?
Let me get him.
Yes.
[chuckles]
Oh!
[Rodchenkov] Is it male, female?
Male.
Castrated?
No. [chuckles]
[Rodchenkov] So with balls?
He’s got the balls.
Yeah. There is the balls. Yes, yes.
[all laughing]
Yeah, this is Max.
[Rodchenkov] Max.
Max. Yeah.
Testosterone, you have to have a prescription.
Yes, uh, injectable.
Injectable, right.
So, now you are clever, huh?
Like Lance Armstrong.
Send it to me.
Names, doses, for how long…
So everything should be orchestrated.
[Fogel] How do I do that? Just send you everything I’m gonna take?
[Rodchenkov] Yes, your one-month schedule. Yes.
We’ve got three medications that you’ll take by injection.
This is five times a week?
Yeah, it’s all on your regimen sheet.
We’ll draw up half a cc.
Looks like a big needle.
It’s a tiny needle.
Really?
Yeah.
Your testosterone comes ready to go. This is very, very viscous.
It’s a very thick substance, so you need a big needle to draw it up.
Then we’re gonna pull out.
So there’s your .2 CC’s.
And that one goes also in the top of your thigh.
[inhales sharply]
I’m a little nervous, but all right.
Okay.
[Scott Brandt] Give me a thigh.
And does it hurt the muscle? Do you flex?
[Brandt] It’s not gonna go in your muscle. It’s gonna go above.
You just pinch it, and we’re just gonna go just through the skin.
That’s it.
And then we’re just gonna put that underneath the skin.
Did that hurt?
[Fogel] No, not too bad.
I mean, I see it there.
It’ll go away in no time.
[Brandt] That’s the HCG.
Oh, shit.
[Brandt] And right next to it, the testosterone.
Pop it through the skin. That’s all we’re looking to do.
Just through the skin. It’s real thick now.
And you are pumped up.
Whoa!
How long till those bumps go down?
They’ll go quick. Within a half hour.
Okay. Whoa.
And so we begin.
[Brandt] The ability to go day after day will be brand new for you, I think.
Going to do an injection.
[Fogel] Exciting.
[Brandt] I work with one trainer that does a lot of fitness as well as nutrition coaching.
[Ben Stone] Almost there. Come on, Bryan.
[Brandt] We should be able to see a 15 to 20% improvement.
[Fogel] What’s your dog’s name again?
[Rodchenkov] Vrangei.
Okay. Did you start your program?
[Fogel] I did.
This is my morning pill-popping routine.
And then I prepare the testosterone.
[Rodchenkov] Yes, testosterone propionate.
[Fogel] Yes.
It’s really thick.
What made you think that Grigory might help me?
Well, it’s difficult for me to answer that without… saying things about Grigory that aren’t very kind.
Okay, let me think.
So, you’ve already did it for two weeks?
[dog pants]
He’s fucking me.
[Fogel laughing]
He’s fucking me. [speaking Russian]
[in English] Just pee and collect your urine today.
And drop into the freezer.
So just pee, take some urine and put it in the freezer?
In the freezer.
There’s day eight, day ten…
Needle.
The testosterone with the HGH, it’s a weird feeling because it doesn’t feel like I’m on anything.
Are you now training? And you feel a little bit stronger?
Yeah, I really felt stronger.
That’s good.
Forty milligrams each other day is a very good protocol.
[Fogel] I still had no idea why a WADA lab director who did all the testing for the Sochi Olympics would agree to do this, because his job was supposed to be to catch athletes.
So you want me to do 24,000 units in one month?
Yes.
[Fogel] Fuck, man. That’s a lot of EPO.
[Rodchenkov] You have just common fears, and it’s paranoia.
We are imitating… We are reproducing Lance Armstrong’s scenario.
I’m getting kind of bruises all over my legs.
Don’t disturb your thigh at all. Stop it.
You can inject into your thigh muscle, but better to the ass.
[Fogel stammers] Into my ass?
[Rodchenkov] Much more!
[Fogel] Okay.
This is starting to get ridiculous.
Ow!
Wow! I’m bleeding from that. [inhales sharply] Okay.
Oh, fuck, I’m really bleeding from that one, too.
Let me get some alcohol.
Um, okay, so then a half of this one.
[inhales deeply]
Oh, fuck!
[sighs]
Um… [grunts]
Okay.
So, that’s that.
He was like, [in Russian accent] “You don’t do subcutaneous. You put it right into your ass.
[laughing]
No, we go one inch into buttocks. Show me that bottle again.”
[Stone] You’re kidding me.
[Rodchenkov] Have you seen movie with me?
No.
Separate movie.
Which movie?
No?
About me.
[man] All athletes in Russia are doping.
The athletes that are under Mr. Rodchenkov, they don’t get positive tests.
[narrator in German] The laboratory was internationally recognized for research.
Its head scientist is considered an outstanding scientist.
Grigory Rodchenkov.
[woman in Russian] Dr. Rodchenkov is informed about everything.
He knows how long the drugs need to disappear from the body.
He is aware and instructs. He’s the most important specialist.
[Fogel] The ARD documentary regarding the Russian whistle-blowers…
what did you think, hearing these allegations?
It was inflammatory enough that they were afraid to run it while the whistle-blowers were still in Russia.
So they got them out of Russia, ran the program, and it was a bombshell.
[man] 99% of Russian athletes are guilty of doping.
That’s according to a recent German documentary aired on ARD.
[woman] WADA’s president, Craig Reedie, promised an investigation, effective immediately.
[Craig Reedie] It is wrong just to make any kind of assumption on allegations in the media.
Athletes must be presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.
These are wild allegations, and we’ll have to check them out.
[Richard McLaren] Reedie had to do something.
That’s how the Independent Commission was created.
I had investigative experience for a decade and a half, and some big investigations, like US Olympic Committees and Major League Baseball.
[man] And Bonds hits one high! It’s a ding!
Our mandate was athletics, track and field and Russia.
The WADA chairman named this Independent Commission and said, “Let’s get at it.”
[man] The Anti-Doping Agency wants a report by the end of the year, and athletics officials say they’ll cooperate.
It’s unclear, though, what actions might be taken.
Thomas Daigle, CBC News.
[Fogel] Is it gonna be okay? Is it gonna pass over?
Is this gonna cause you…
No, no, no. It’s growing.
It’s growing?
It’s like a tornado coming.
Okay, so you are receiving how many units?
[Fogel] Grigory, the Moscow scientist I was showing you, who did all the testing for Sochi, who’s now at the center of this big Russian doping scandal.
Russia was doping their athletes in the ’80s.
Apparently, they’ve never stopped.
Really?
[Fogel] The crazy thing is, Richard Pound, the guy who was the head of WADA for 15 years, has actually been hired to lead the investigation against Grigory.
Um… I don’t know what you want me to do with that.
Meaning?
I don’t know how… Shit. My computer’s about to die.
I don’t know how…
Let me grab my power cord. I’ll be back.
Do you have a charger? All right.
There might be someone else out there that might be a better decision or choice.
You’re using this guy as your coach. What’s your comfort level?
Here’s how I’m looking at it…
You can find someone else.
I guess you call it “doping doctors.” I don’t know what you would label Grigory.
Is he a biochemist? I don’t even know.
It doesn’t even matter. I don’t like this shit.
[Fogel] Look, there’s no finding someone else.
[Brandt] Your numbers look great.
Your testosterone is pretty much right where we want you.
Grigory, what’s the typical wash-out for urine to go to negative from a full treatment of testosterone?
How many days does that take usually? Seven?
[Rodchenkov] For Bryan, two weeks will be nice.
Is there any way that we could test that here in the States, or it’s gotta go back to you to test those frozen urines?
It’s the only way. But again, I am under heavy control.
WADA now, they have an inquiry about me.
[Brandt] Yes.
So you see, like, me… I’m a very dangerous person.
How do you think is the best way to basically get that test done?
Maybe, hopefully…
I would like to do this, to come to, maybe, LA, and to smuggle something to Russia. Some urines from you.
Um… [stammers]
Could we send ’em to Salt Lake City or another lab?
No, no, no. It’s strictly prohibited.
[indistinct chatter]
You are so skinny! [speaking Russian]
You’re skinny.
No!
[Fogel] All the urine in my freezer, we have to unfreeze it?
[Rodchenkov] Yes, we unfreeze, then we homogenize to make sure everything is melted.
I took special bottles for smuggling urine, and… we will make a scenario like I am collecting my urine.
“Grigory one, morning.”
“Evening, 28th. Grigory two.”
Then we recode them.
Perfect.
Otherwise, what is the source of the urine and why?
Right.
The goal during this two-to three-week period is to push you to an extreme on a chronic level, not just acute.
Okay, we…
[Fogel] Max!
He loves me.
[Fogel] Yeah. Max…
No, no, don’t kick Max. It’s okay.
Max, go away. Out.
No, no, no.
It’s not good time.
[laughing]
Later.
[Stone] A fifteen-second acceleration whenever you want. Good.
We need girls, cheerleaders.
[Stone] Right? Exactly. Maybe we should get you some pom-poms.
And like this…
Right.
[Rodchenkov] I was working here in 1989, when Catlin was in big power.
Laboratory was located in UCLA. The campus.
[Catlin] Twenty years ago, we had decided to develop a way to get actually friendly with what was then the Soviets.
We, the US, would invite Soviets to come to the US and pick and choose athletes that they wanted to test, bring ’em in and test them where the Soviets were watching.
Grigory was the first representative.
He shows up at the second day of work in bright orange shorts and announces that he’s gonna enter the Santa Monica Marathon.
And he won the darn thing.
He’s a good athlete.
[Rodchenkov] I was almost a professional in running.
1,500 meters and five kilometers at Moscow University.
My mother always pushed me to swim, to ski.
I realized that some people are using something.
Last year, he was nobody. Next year, he has muscles.
Of course, I also started to use the best of the best, stanozolol.
And all injections were done by my mother.
And, of course, it was 50 milligrams, this simple thing.
[Fogel] Wait, wait. Your mother injected you?
Yes, of course.
But if you are not national team level, like Olympic, you cannot afford any more training camp.
So, I graduated to Moscow University, to the chemical department.
I liked doping control. I liked sports.
And since 1985, I worked in the top field of laboratories in the world.
And then, Moscow laboratory was doing mistake by mistake.
“We need a new director, and it will be upheld by WADA.”
That’s how I became director.
[Fogel] Should I be taking the HGH and the testosterone now?
[Rodchenkov] Let’s look at your protocol.
I have to sketch all schematics, starting from the new year.
We’ll sit down with a piece of paper.
Yes.
With the piss and then with the tubes.
We take just a fraction.
And then it will be coded and took for analysis.
So, here’s day one. Okay? Here’s day two.
Here’s day three, day four, day five.
[Rodchenkov] Seven, eight, nine.
We have nine urines. Okay.
So we are starting…
[Fogel] And that one, I just took.
Is that enough? Or do I need any more?
It’s okay.
[Fogel] Okay.
Three, three, three.
I hear you got the real code.
I am mafia.
This is mafia.
[laughing]
Chased by WADA.
Could you imagine, the best laboratory will be puzzled with your piss?
In Russia, the empire of evil.
Propaganda.
[mutters]
Fantastic.
Oh, God. What is that?
It’s flakes. Your flakes.
What is that? What is that?
Your sins. [clicks tongue]
And on the top.
[Fogel] When I come to Moscow in September, after the race, I can drink.
Okay, next time. Next time, if I survive.
At my lab, WADA is keeping laboratory on a very short leash. Leash?
Asking many questions.
All sort of bullshit.
Like, “Where is your… underground laboratory for pre-testing? Where is the shadow laboratory?”
Of course, my laboratory is fully under… cameras and everything, computers, barcodes…
But they were looking for something.
Like a secret lab?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, underground.
Batman?
Yes, yes.
Who owns the lab?
The state.
The state does?
Yes.
Okay, we have Terminal One, departing flight.
[Fogel] Yeah.
♪ I am a woman in love ♪
[grunts]
Keep it. It’s my donation.
No, no, no!
No, no, no.
I have a lot, you see.
All people are presenting me with pens, so I have full collection.
Remember me.
I will.
So I’m gonna see you…
So, so, so nice with you.
Grigory, thanks for coming.
Yes.
Be very careful with what you are recording.
It’s not permitted. It’s like pornography and erotics.
Sports pornography and erotics.
Now we are…
[laughing]
And I see you, uh, in September.
[Rodchenkov] Yes, definitely.
[Fogel] Did you go to Moscow?
No, I did not, and Dick Pound did not.
We wanted to send an investigative group of WADA specialists into the Moscow lab.
The director of the lab, he was the last fail-safe position, right?
If there is a sample that’s potentially positive, where can you stop it from being reported?
In the lab.
So he was interviewed. Didn’t provide us with much information.
[Fogel] Please tell me all my frozen piss didn’t explode in your bag.
[Rodchenkov laughs]
But this is big secret.
Bryan, I have all urines.
We analyzed urines for your steroid profile.
Everything is kept frozen.
I have a full agenda, so don’t worry.
Okay.
[Rodchenkov] We did preliminary tests, but not much.
When WADA will leave…
They are leaving tomorrow night.
Then maybe Friday, or maybe Monday, anyway…
[Fogel] WADA’s there bothering you?
[Rodchenkov] It’s much more challenging.
WADA is sniffing and asking tons of questions.
Dick Pound… You know, Dick Pound?
Yes
He’s starting to understand it’s very difficult to prove something.
What do you see the outcome or the solution as?
We will see.
You just focus on racing.
Keep digging, keep digging. Keep digging, come on.
Come on, you got it. Come on. Four, two, one.
Taking it down. Taking it down.
This is already better than last time.
Last year, 250 watts. This year, 349. It’s 100 watts.
[Fogel] My power right now is 20% more than I had last year.
Yes, yes, finally you have some gains. Some gain, some progression.
I can’t wait to come to Moscow.
Bryan, it will be fantastic.
[Fogel] I shouldn’t bring any EPO with me to Europe, right?
[Rodchenkov] No.
[Fogel] Okay.
[Rodchenkov] You complete everything until 17th.
The last injection is on US soil.
Okay.
[Rodchenkov] Before passing the border and the customs.
Then you’re taking urine with you to me, and we’ll complete your biological passport.
That’s it.
[woman] Words cannot describe what you’ll be living through this week.
Your body’s gonna shut down. It’s gonna break down entirely.
[man] We are on the French Cycling Federation calendar, and we do have an anti-doping policy.
[Fogel] As far as testing for PEDs, the race says that they do.
They may come and test, just so you’re aware.
[Fogel] As I came to learn, they don’t.
[Rodchenkov] Don’t worry.
[Fogel] But I had Grigory.
He had helped me dope, and he was gonna test my samples through his WADA lab in Moscow.
[Rodchenkov] So, be clever.
I have not done a urine sample since I’ve been here.
You are like a pioneer.
[Fogel] So I’m gonna pee in this little bag here.
[Rodchenkov] You are a victim of your ideas.
August 21st.
See you at the end. And good luck tomorrow.
[announcer] Start time tomorrow morning, 7:15.
[Fogel] Right here.
[Rodchenkov] I am like a priest.
I am healing your doping paranoia.
You are free. You have enough power, and God is with you.
You are sentenced to win.
[Fogel] So the scheme was now in place.
[announcer] Raise your arms!
Are you ready?
Start!
Ninety, ninety. That’s it.
[announcer] Pouly!
[crowd cheering]
[indistinct shouting]
[Stone] You did great.
You were three and a half minutes behind Pouly.
[Fogel] That’s not bad.
No, that’s fucking great.
You guys were hauling ass.
Bryan’s in that group data. He’s in there with the top ten guys.
[Fogel] All the guys in the top ten are incredible.
[Rodchenkov] Very good.
[Fogel] They could be pro.
[Rodchenkov] You are a monster. [laughs]
Medium-sized monster.
[Stone] Bryan Fogel, can you hear me?
Can’t raise him on the walkie-talkie. Bryan, come back.
[Stone] Bryan!
Yeah?
[Stone speaking indistinctly]
[Stone] It has to be charged.
The battery’s dead. It needed to be charged.
Now it won’t go up. You see? Dead. It’s totally dead.
[Fogel] Fuck!
[Fogel] My derailleur, my shifting, it broke.
[Rodchenkov] Your bike?
Yes.
[Rodchenkov] You cannot shift your gears?
[Fogel] For 100 kilometers.
[Rodchenkov] My goodness.
I dropped ten places in the rankings.
Okay. Hmm.
My God.
[Fogel] I feel that I’m really stronger this year.
Like, that I’m recovering.
[Brandt] Yeah.
[Fogel] I mean, I’m hauling ass, but they’re…
I’m not beating ’em. They’re in a different…
There’s guys that I don’t know that you could’ve beat on your best day.
[Fogel] My whole plan was to have a substantially better performance this year.
And…
I’m not.
[Stone] Did you just get separated or what?
Neutral descent now?
[man] Does it hurt that you did better last year than you did this year?
I mean, I could have been 21 years old and taken all the blood bags and EPO in the world, and I was still not going to be a Tour de France champion.
It doesn’t matter.
[Rodchenkov] Just stay optimistic.
Because now, we can change nothing.
[announcer] The winner, Peter Pouly.
[crowd applauds]
[Fogel] I felt pretty good. I just had…
[Rodchenkov] No, no, no.
[Fogel] I’ve just had some bad luck days.
[Rodchenkov] Bryan, look at me.
Stop it.
You are what you are. I am what I am.
It’s a turning point, what we are doing.
You should be happy that we have such fantastic material.
We have ten times more information than Dick Pound and Armstrong together.
[Fogel] Really?
We will continue. Don’t worry.
You are just like in the reception. You did not enter the first floor.
Then there is a second and so on.
[Fogel] What’s on the second floor?
[Rodchenkov] When you go to Moscow, you will see.
[Fogel] So cool.
How many tests… I’ve probably had 15 or 20 blood tests.
[Rodchenkov] It’s more than enough.
Okay.
[Fogel] Is this the laboratory?
Yes.
Oh, you see, this is bloody RUSADA.
Bringing samples, it’s not too good to show our camera to them.
[Fogel] Oh. You want us to hide?
Yes, yes, yes.
[Fogel] Okay.
Be very careful with all your material.
People are very sensitive also, you know.
[Fogel] Yes.
This is my director place.
It’s the most famous laboratory in the world.
We cannot say explicitly that you have been analyzed.
It’s coming. I already solved everything yesterday.
You will have it until, let’s say… Within two weeks, we will do this.
But it should be done still, say, under the table, not…
[Fogel] Okay.
Okay. [clears throat]
[Rodchenkov] Smile. Your race is over. We have to go downstairs.
[Fogel] Are there scientists, or those working in WADA laboratories today, that you suspect could have been corrupted?
[Rodchenkov] Each director of laboratory, like me…
I have to sign a code of ethics, that what we are doing is not harmful or detrimental to the whole anti-doping society.
We go down this emergency exit.
[Fogel] What did Russia have to do with the hiding blood passports of all the athletes?
[Rodchenkov] Let’s talk in my office.
If you hide fight against doping, you cannot be 50% honest.
You have to be honest, or you have to hide the ends.
It’s the same as Orwell, 1984.
WADA is like a religion, and you cannot escape.
You have to think about money, but you cannot steal money.
You have to think about women, but you have to be married and don’t go to prostitution.
But again… almost everybody has some period when they were sinners.
So what to do?
There is no answer.
[Fogel] For the last five months, I took urine and then I did blood…
[Rodchenkov] Yes, we have a good database.
How do we go about the analysis? What do we wanna show?
How do we put together
the bigger story arc?
Bryan, be optimistic.
[chuckles]
Smile.
I have vodka for you.
You do?
Yes.
The best vodka.
What kind?
From Mordovia.
Oh, awesome!
You do drink vodka?
Yeah, I like vodka.
You like… I have vodka for you.
I’ve decided I’m not gonna leave Russia. I’m gonna stay here.
You would like to stay?
Russia is the most relaxing country in the world.
You think?
No.
[both laughing]
[Fogel] You having fun?
Yes, we have fun!
Smile.
[speaking Russian]
Bryan!
[singing in Russian]
[indistinct chatter]
[man] Ladies and gentlemen, members of the media, welcome to Geneva.
Almost a year ago, very serious doping allegations were first raised on German television channel ARD.
The WADA president, Sir Craig Reedie,
announced that a full and thorough inquiry would be conducted.
The founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Mr. Dick Pound, the chair of that commission.
Overwhelming portions of the allegations made on the ARD program have been found by the Independent Commission to be true.
It’s worse than we thought. We have found cover-ups.
We found destruction of samples in the laboratories.
We found payments of money in order to conceal doping tests… among others.
Our conclusion was that all of this could not have happened, and continue to happen, without the knowledge of and either actual or implied consent of the state authorities.
[Fogel] You reading this?
Forty pages of this report is Grigory.
It’s hard to imagine
what the Russian state interest in athletes’ urine would be.
One of our big concerns about tests were the 1,400 that were destroyed by the director of the Moscow laboratory.
In fact, our recommendation is the director of the laboratory be removed from his position, that the WADA accreditation be withdrawn, and the Russian Federation be suspended.
[line ringing]
[Veronika] Bryan, hi.
[Fogel] Hi.
Where did Grigory go?
I’ve been crying.
Yes, I am with him, and I think maybe you want to speak with him.
Maybe he’s a little bit nervous.
I’m so sorry.
[Rodchenkov] Bryan.
I’m not… I’m sorry. I’m trying to understand what you’re saying.
[Rodchenkov] I’m absolutely saying that we will overturn all this bullshit, and it will be upside down.
So, Bryan, I hardly could talk to you tonight.
[line disconnects]
[woman] The details are damning and could have a profound impact on the future of Russian athletics.
[man] This WADA commission has accused Russian athletics of state-sponsored doping.
[in Russian] We are preparing our response to again provide any explanation needed.
That’s all I can say at this point.
Does this mean they could potentially miss next year’s Olympics?
Well, that is certainly one of the potential outcomes here.
[man] The International Olympic Committee have released a statement.
You will see athletes being sanctioned by the IAAF.
You will see athletes and officials being excluded.
And you will see an action led by the IOC.
We’ll apply this zero-tolerance policy.
[man] Decision time for the IAAF on whether Russia’s track and field athletes will be allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics.
I want to hear what the Athletics Federation of Russia is actually saying in answer to those allegations.
[man] The Sports Minister, Vitaly Mutko, has said, “Russia took all the necessary measures,” he says, “to fight the doping problem.
Moscow’s anti-doping lab was recently recognized as one of the best in the world.”
You don’t want to talk to us?
Well, the employees at this lab are clearly being very tight-lipped, but the report from the World Anti-Doping Agency goes into great detail describing the alleged activities inside that building.
[Rodchenkov] There are around 50 correspondents behind my fence, but I am here.
And I am not supposed to talk.
Bryan, stay quiet.
You’re a lucky man. Only you, knowing me.
[Skype call ends]
Holy shit.
The World Anti-Doping Agency suspended Russia’s sports drug-testing lab, and the head of the lab resigned.
[Veronika in Russian] Grisha, be careful what you tell him now.
[Rodchenkov] Don’t tell me. I am just…
[Veronika] They’re holding on the phone for you.
[Rodchenkov] Tell them I’ll call back…
[Veronika] It sounds serious.
[Rodchenkov] I’ll call back in five minutes!
[Veronika] Okay, but will you?
[Rodchenkov] Yes, go away!
[Veronika] Fine.
[Rodchenkov] Bryan…
[in English] It’s a disaster.
They’re just killing people.
Cutting heads, you know, without who is guilty.
Yesterday, you know, I went to Minister Mutko, and we started to discuss.
He was talking, blah, blah, blah, about football.
Uh, blah, blah, blah, about Formula 1.
Then to say what to do with bloody doping.
But he say, “Could you resign?” I go, “Yes.”
“Today?” “Yes, today.”
And I resigned.
And… they lost director.
I have a lot of calls, but I’m just changing my telephones.
People are looking for their job, but laboratory is almost empty.
Empty.
I don’t know what’s going on.
I just know what I’m reading in the newspaper and in the press and…
You know.
Oh, really? Really?
I mean, will they come after you?
Are they gonna arrest you? Are they gonna…
Would they try to put you in jail?
In jail? No.
What is the reason for jail?
You know.
No.
Are you in any danger?
Yes, but not jail. It could be some… I don’t know.
I mean…
Do you know that I am now moving with a security man?
Security guard.
No.
Just a security guard in my home.
In your home?
Coming to my car.
I’m following behind.
It’s recommended until the end of the week, because I am the only man who can kill both sides.
Russia and WADA, so…
Stay quiet.
[Vitaly Mutko in Russian] Let me say this.
In reality, the Independent Commission’s report and statements made by Mr. Pound are exaggerated.
We’ve even built a modern, state-of-the-art anti-doping laboratory that is renowned for its testing for the Olympics, Paralympics, championships and more, and received the highest merits for its contributions.
The government is merely financing the laboratory operation.
[Rodchenkov in English] They don’t accept this Independent Commission at all.
They’re deliberately lying.
Bryan, Bryan… look at me.
[Fogel] Okay.
[Rodchenkov] It means I could be tossed under the bus anytime.
I’m not sure that we are connecting freely.
Because now we are on radar, that’s for sure.
You know Snowden?
Yeah, of course.
Now you see. [clicks tongue]
We still don’t know… We still don’t know whether Russia is participating in Olympic Games or not.
The outcome, why I am very much cautious about my life…
If me will be purged…
okay, Russia will go to the Olympics.
[clicking tongue] The problem is to survive.
Listen, I, uh…
Yes.
Joking, you know, seriousness aside…
Stop it. Stop, stop.
I’m just… I’m worried about you.
Yes, yes.
Tomorrow, I drop you.
And then, when I say… [clicks tongue]
“How is weather in Los Angeles?” or anything related to weather… it means that we will talk in 15, 20 minutes.
Be ready to talk.
[Sebastian Coe] Tonight, our sport finds itself in a shameful situation.
And that is why I can confirm the council has overwhelmingly voted, with immediate effect, to suspend the Russian Federation.
It’s done so, uh, by 22 votes to one.
It is the strongest sanction… [continues indistinctly]
[in Russian] Regarding the recent events connected to our track and field team, I urge the sports minister and all my sports colleagues to make this their number one priority.
This is the first step.
Secondly, it is vital to conduct our own internal investigation.
[clears throat] Sport should be fair.
Responsibility should be personalized and absolute.
[Rodchenkov] Bryan…
I need… Wait, look at me.
Yeah.
I need to escape and to walk… to walk…
You can go wherever you want.
Okay.
I will be doggy-sitting at your home.
So you wanna get out?
Yes. Simply.
What do you want to, uh…
It’s very suspicious when you have one-way ticket, you know.
Yeah, right. You have to book a round trip.
[Veronika in Russian] They’re watching us.
[Rodchenkov] Bryan?
Yeah.
[Rodchenkov] What I am doing, myself, I can do nothing.
So…
Okay?
[stammering]
I’ll send you… Let me figure out some flight options, okay?
Okay.
[Fogel] I’m gonna get the flight, right now.
[Rodchenkov] Yes, right now.
Okay.
[Rodchenkov] Go.
Also, some security measures will be set.
[Fogel] How will I know that you made it through okay?
[Rodchenkov] Um…
I don’t know.
Okay?
Okay.
[both] Okay.
[Rodchenkov] Bryan?
Yeah, I’m right here.
Okay, just left my security man.
[Fogel] Okay.
[Rodchenkov] I am very much dizzy, paranoid.
[Fogel] We’ll get you here.
[Rodchenkov] My wife and children decided maybe it’s better to stay in Russia.
[Fogel] Just gotta make sure in the US that you’re okay also.
[Rodchenkov] My daughter…
[Fogel] Yes?
[Rodchenkov] She’s getting married.
[Fogel] Right.
[Rodchenkov] Married, everything.
It’s time.
[Fogel] Okay.
[Rodchenkov] Cross fingers now.
[Fogel] You, too.
[Rodchenkov] Remember Orwell.
“We will meet each other where there is no darkness.”
[Fogel] When I first interviewed you a year ago, I asked you if you thought your investigation would be a defining moment in the history of sport.
How would you answer that question now?
Yes, it can be a defining moment, and I think it should.
You’ve got your number one Olympic sport in the crosshairs, and you’ve got one of the major Olympic countries in the world in the crosshairs, even if it’s the crosshairs only on athletics at the moment.
That has the potential of affecting the credibility of all sport and, therefore, the continued viability of all sport.
Why would I watch an event that’s fixed?
[indistinct announcement over PA]
[Fogel] There he is.
I’m here, yes!
He’s escaped.
This is… Yes. Escaped alive.
[chuckles]
Come on.
[laughing]
[Fogel] Then you did what?
[Rodchenkov] Destroyed my computer from my working place.
I took hard disk. And also, I have three copies.
It’s a historical moment.
[Dan Cogan on phone] Grigory, I want you to know that I understand your desire to be visible and I think that’s very important for you, to be safe.
I was on the phone yesterday with the lawyer for Edward Snowden.
They have some recommendations.
I have everything with me, and also I destroyed my office computer.
Put it in a very safe place and dropped there like a dummy.
[Cogan] We’ll talk in a few hours.
[Fogel] This is, uh… This is it.
[Rodchenkov] Uh-huh.
It’s like a labyrinth.
[Fogel] Yeah.
Okay, this is the place.
[Rodchenkov] Good.
Here’s, um… bed, bathroom.
[Rodchenkov] Secure place.
It’s a good thing.
[Fogel] This’ll work, at least till we get what the plan is and what we’re gonna do.
[Rodchenkov] He goes to me. He remembers me since May.
You will be learning Russian.
You will be learning Russian very soon.
I’m missing dogs.
There was one thing that I noticed in the IC report, and that was that there were KGB people hanging around the lab.
And that’s a real no-no.
You know, KGB people are not nice people.
So I am at home.
[interpreter] We will banish all those who have a suspicious reputation from the leadership of Russian athletics.
In 60 days, we will present the renewed athletics with new people…
[Fogel] So, if the KGB… I guess they’re called the FSB now…
they’re in the lab, who else could finance them but Vitaly Mutko?
Oh, I don’t think Vitaly Mutko finances the FSB.
That’s a state security operation.
But… but Putin?
Well, whoever finances it and runs the state security apparatus, it’s not the sport minister.
[man] Officials are essentially saying, “There may be some problems, but we are trying and have already taken steps to address those problems.”
And all of the officials are essentially rejecting the idea that there’s still a major problem.
[in Russian] Honey, hi.
I am here, far away and in the darkness.
You see them all?
Wearing fancy suits, ties, making speeches on TV…
It’s all a farce.
[in English] Of course I was very disappointed when laboratory was closed.
Now reading this IC report, I am just watching with another’s eyes.
I know that I could change the past, telling the truth.
But would you like telling the truth, you will be annihilated.
George Orwell, I was reading the first in 1989.
I was 30.
Before that time, in Soviet Union, the book 1984, it was strictly, strictly prohibited.
For me, it was totally shocking.
Especially “ignorance is strength.”
This is the most powerful thing.
It was my weapon.
It gave me definitions, it gave me coordinates how you can apply to your life.
It’s like a road map.
” ‘There are three stages in your reintegration,’ said O’Brien. ‘There is learning, there is understanding, and there is acceptance. It’s time for you to enter upon the first stage.’ “
I was thinking that we’d start…
I ask you questions, and you answer “yes” or “no.”
Does Russia have a systematic, statewide doping system in place to cheat the Olympics?
Yes.
Were you the mastermind of a statewide system that cheated the Olympics?
Of course. Yes.
Russia won a total of 73 medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
How many of those athletes were dirty?
Thirty.
Russia won 81 total medals in London. How many of those were dirty?
Oh, even more.
50% is for sure. Let it be 50%.
They were earned using special program.
State-sponsored, of course.
Was Putin aware of the existence of a Russian doping system?
Yes. Aware of my name.
He took me from the prison for such special affair.
From prison?
Yes.
To redeem.
Okay, let’s back up one sec here.
My concern is that it’s something they would use to discredit you.
Oh, of course.
So, the first criminal investigation against you, when was it and what happened?
Oh, it’s not easy to say how it happened.
Before 2008, China was the biggest producer of anabolics.
It was produced in a pharmaceutical, well-equipped, good manufacturing practice.
No contamination, high qualities.
And all these anabolics are coming to Europe, to the United States.
It’s the same like in Russia.
Of course, at that time in Russia, as the head of laboratory, I was a part of system.
There are three or four top-level witch doctors, like Portugalov.
Portugalov was the famous anabolic coach of Russian national team.
It was Soviet time. He was before me.
Portugalov is conveyor of athletes.
He has his own protocols, and he really had great success.
And then they became Olympic champions.
The problem began in 2008.
Jacques Rogge, the president of the Olympics, told government of China, “You are Olympic country, but you are producing anabolics in bulk. You cannot do like this anymore. Stop it.”
They stop it. Officially.
But who is supplying steroids to national team?
Before, there was not any concern.
You buy stanozolol, it’s stanozolol.
But Portugalov was so confident, offering and providing things which were not proven or tested.
They have impurities which could be detectable.
“Oh,” Portugalov say. “What to do? I spent so much money for this.
Maybe you could advise to do?”
What advice? Drop it to the trash.
Now, in Moscow laboratory, we had the best sensitivity and detection limits.
I’m very proud that I created the test for long term metabolites, which caused the detection window to enlarge from two or three weeks to six months.
That’s why Portugalov suddenly had so many positives.
All people on the national team, they came to ask where to get these steroids.
I knew one source.
Suddenly, I was coordinating the whole steroid program.
[Fogel] So you were cutting out Portugalov?
[Rodchenkov] Yes, but what I was doing, I was saving national team from purchasing dirty steroids.
Eventually, I don’t know whether it was by purpose, I fight with Portugalov.
Then I became enemy.
Criminal narcotic police came to my home, they took my computer, and they said, “Then we arrest you on Monday.”
I was in such depression and my will was paralyzed.
And I decided to escape, I don’t know how.
I took some knife from… very, very sharp… from my wife’s kitchen.
I drank whiskey, I sit to the bath.
And…
And… it was…
It goes so smooth.
Then, in the water, I see how blood is doing like this.
It wasn’t very strong, the lock.
My wife opened door.
[siren wailing]
My heart was seared.
It was very good surgeon.
And since I was considered to be suicide… I was sent to a psychiatric clinic.
After seeing that I am depressed, they started to give me such crazy drugs.
I was totally out of reality.
And then again, something happened.
The criminal police, they sentence me to another psychiatric clinic… which is for those who are sadist, who are totally worst-of-the-worst criminals.
They respected me very much. [chuckles] I was called “professor.”
But I get better, better, better.
The most funny thing, they allowed me to use computer, so I was working in psychiatric clinic like a head of laboratory director, advising the whole Russian national team.
That time, I received, from Olympic Committee, an invitation to London, 2012 Olympic Games, being the director.
Russian ministry was little bit uncertain that I’m criminal in full.
But WADA said,
“If not Rodchenkov, we don’t see in Russia any other candidate than him. If you don’t send him to London, we send to London another director.”
You can imagine how important information from London laboratory is for national team.
I had information, what testing this London laboratory is doing, to understand where we are and how much is danger.
Without this, all Russian doping situation will be collapsed.
Thanks to God, Mutko understood this.
I received a call from the Moscow investigators.
“Grigory… your case is dropped.”
Who took care of it? Who got the charges dropped?
Putin. Of course.
It’s my redemption. Success in Sochi instead of being in prison.
[in Russian] We are two workers, Kamaev and Rodchenkov, with a mission in mind…
This is not a mission. This is a revolution.
This is an anti-WADA strategy.
Of course! Of course!
[woman] The former head of Russia’s anti-doping agency RUSADA has unexpectedly died.
Nikita Kamaev’s death comes just two months after he resigned his post, which is, obviously, following the doping scandal that has rocked Russia and the rest of the world in athletics.
[sighs]
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
I have to see.
[man] We’re told by RUSADA, which is the doping agency he was formerly the head of, that he appears to have had a massive heart attack.
[Rodchenkov] Of course.
Bryan?
I’m here.
You know, my friend?
My friend… died.
I show you.
[man] He’s got no previous history of heart problems.
[Rodchenkov speaking Russian]
It means, “Grigory, Nikita died.”
[man] He just died. And so, it’s an enormous shock.
[Rodchenkov] He’s my friend since school time, and he never complained about his heart or any health problem, and…
He had a young wife.
They dreamed about children. I was talking to him day before.
This is…
Still, I cannot understand.
It cannot be like this.
He wrote book.
It’s dangerous to write book in Russia.
[Fogel] I don’t know. We gotta figure this out, because…
Of course, of course.
Do you think that they would…
Bryan, we are playing the most danger game in the history of sport.
WADA, ready to pay everything for me and for you to disappear.
Because we destroy not only their future, we destroy their past.
You know, there is very bad man still not mentioned.
Deputy Minister Mutko.
He could kill everybody.
He’s a KGB man.
He’s very dangerous. He has no moral at all. No, no.
“Oh, Nikita is writing book? Fifty-two. Oh, he’s tired. He’s desperate. Oh, please, prepare obituary for the next week.”
Can you imagine? I can imagine easily.
We should be very much careful.
[Fogel] Who were you reporting to?
Yuri Nagornykh, vice minister.
He was practically involved in everyday routine.
[Fogel] So you would report to Yuri?
[Rodchenkov] Yes.
[Fogel] Yuri would report to Mutko?
[Rodchenkov] Yes.
[Fogel] And Mutko reported to Putin?
[Rodchenkov] To Putin, yes.
[Rodchenkov] You know, there is no rest if you are paranoid.
[Fogel] It was around 12:30, one o’clock at night?
[Rodchenkov] Or two. I don’t know.
They were just hanging around, so…
[Fogel] Somebody in the courtyard?
[Rodchenkov] Yes.
Two strong men knocked my door and appeared from darkness.
They asked me to let them in, and they came here.
And we were talking about sport, about many relevant or auxiliary things.
They knew about death of Nikita Kamaev.
About, first of all, my boss, Minister Mutko.
It was inspection and… [mutters]
Exhausts my nerves…
They finally gave me subpoena.
United States district court.
You see, it’s for me. “To Grigory Rodchenkov.”
[Fogel] You’re commanded to appear in front of the grand jury.
[Ed Stier] He had been approached by two FBI agents.
They want him to go to New York and appear in a grand jury and provide his information.
It triggered a whole series of decisions that had to be made.
I’ve checked out these two guys, and both of these guys are not your everyday agent.
[Cogan] But why did they come to him?
They want him for something else that they’re doing.
They didn’t come to him for himself.
They’re trying to make a case, and they found out he was in LA.
His boss, Mutko, was actually the guy.
[lawyer] How was he able to survive?
Because he’s Putin’s best friend. He’s the head of the sports ministry.
Just what sort of, uh… crime… like, example, I could be done against or under US legislature?
The United States Justice Department loves to charge broad conspiracies.
That’s their favorite charging instrument.
That you conspired with Mutko and others to…
What is the conspiracy? It was conspiracy since 1980.
Let’s reconsider Moscow Olympic Games, and then reconsider situation in United States in 1984.
[lawyer] That’s right.
They’re looking for him to plea to what’s called a cooperation agreement.
What happens is, he cooperates, and at the end of the day, the judge generally wouldn’t incarcerate him, most likely.
[Stier] First of all, we don’t know whether that’s… what the bureau’s interested in at this point.
[lawyer] If we turn down, they could indict him.
[Fogel] You gotta be shitting me.
We can talk to these guys.
[Stier] The most important thing is he is not sent back to Russia, where he would certainly be assassinated.
[Fogel] We’ve been discussing with Grigory whether or not he should go public in some way prior to the Olympics.
[Stier] Prior to the Olympics. What you’re saying is if he’s established as a cooperating witness, he may not be able to do that.
[lawyer] That’s right. That’s right. Which is a downside.
[Stier] But once Grigory’s public, I think he’s in much less danger.
Because if the Russians do anything to hurt him, it makes them look very guilty.
[lawyer] Except they’ll just say he had a heart attack, like they did…
[Fogel] Grigory, look at me.
Is it in your best interest to break the story?
Uh…
You mean to disclose? We have to disclose.
[automated voice] Please enter your participant ID. Thank you.
[Rodchenkov] I strongly suggest they stay only with list of 36 athletes.
[Fogel] Okay. But they’re about to publish.
They’re asking us how they can verify the authenticity of the Sochi list.
[Rodchenkov] Yes, this is most important. It’s authentic document.
It was in Sochi on my table.
And if you go behind this list, there is creation date.
[Fogel] And this list came from the ministry?
[Rodchenkov] Of course, of course.
[Fogel] So, Rebecca, you have the file.
So under properties of the file, you can see it was created Tuesday, January 21st, from the ministry.
[Fogel] Oh, my God! You’re unrecognizable!
Not recognizable at all.
Psychological, looking in mirror, it’s not me.
The New York Times is breaking tomorrow.
Tomorrow?
Tomorrow.
Oh, I need… I need… [sighs]
Intravenous injections to relax. Tomorrow?
Tomorrow.
[Rodchenkov] Why not?
Okay, so here’s what’s happening.
[Fogel] Have you spoke to the Department of Justice yet?
[lawyer on phone] I told them, and they reacted like I expected they would.
They’re upset.
Right.
So…
They wanted to know, did he provide any documents to them?
[Fogel] He provided lists of doped athletes.
He provided an FSB file of how the testing was arranged at Sochi.
Yeah, unfortunately, they’re gonna terminate the whole…
Now that he turned over documents, they’re gonna cancel.
And they’re just gonna prosecute him.
[Rodchenkov] “It’s time for you to enter upon the second stage.”
[Jacques Rogge] The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the 22nd Olympic Winter Games in 2014 are awarded to the city of Sochi.
[cheering]
That’s future for everything. That’s future for my country! For Russia!
Millions of citizens of Russia are united by the Olympic dream.
Our national pledge to you is, the choice of Sochi is the best choice.
[Rodchenkov] There is a top-level decision.
You know who I mean.
And big boss, Vladimir Putin, saying, “We have to show the best result in Sochi. We must show the others who we are.”
[man] Hurrah!
[crowd] Hurrah!
Hurrah!
[Rodchenkov] We could make team clean before Sochi. One month.
[crowd cheering]
But it was decided to use PEDs during Sochi.
Through the competition so they could be at their very top level?
Right, right.
[announcer] Vladimir Putin.
[announcer speaking French]
[Fogel] So instead of using the science, the science that you developed to get around the system, you abandoned the science?
Yes.
The most important “yes.” Forget about this.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me declare the 126th session of the International Olympic Committee open.
Thank you.
[audience applauding]
[Rodchenkov] Opening ceremony was the most heartbreaking day… in sports history.
Hi, Bryan.
The story just broke.
[stammering] What do you mean? Is it published or not?
Yes, published.
[gasps]
Published! The story is published!
[man on TV] According to The New York Times, Rodchenkov…
Okay.
This is the photo of bottles.
Those bottles were given from Nikita Kamaev.
“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 sport history.”
[sighs deeply]
[Thomas Bach] Join and support our fight for fair play.
The athletes deserve it.
And to you, my fellow Olympic athletes, I say, respect the rules, play fair, be clean.
[crowd cheering]
[Fogel] In 2014, in Sochi, did Russia swap out dirty urine for clean urine?
Always.
[dramatic music playing]
[narrator] The information contained in this little bottle helps keep sport on the level playing field.
That’s why we created ADAMS, the free Anti-Doping Administration and Management System from WADA.
All operating under a level of security typically used by financial institutions.
In effect, becoming the centralized clearing house for all anti-doping information.
ADAMS. Everyone should play true.
[Fogel] Walk us through the collection process.
[Dick Pound] The sample is provided in front of a doping control officer.
It’s in this container. It’s divided into two.
[Fogel] The A sample and the B sample. These are the…
[Catlin] Bottles.
[Fogel] They’re called the Bereg-Kits?
Yes. It’s one particular company in Switzerland that makes them.
[McLaren] It’s called the Berlinger bottle, and the Berlinger bottle is state of the art.
It’s sealed very tight with a vice-like device.
A collector is right there, watching.
And then it goes to the lab.
It’s in the lab that the B bottles are pulled aside and put in the freezer.
The analytical work is done on the A sample.
[Olivier Rabin] The way we collect the sample, the trustability of the sample, the fact that we’ve got an A and a B sample is a very, very, uh, safe system.
[McLaren] The caps on the bottles,
they’re designed in such a way that they need to be destroyed to be taken off.
[Catlin] In the lab, they have a device that cracks open the A sample.
It’s the only way you can get it off.
[Pound] If an A sample tests positive, then the B gets analyzed.
The B has to confirm the A.
That’s this enormous protection.
[Rodchenkov] From Nagornykh, in preparation to Sochi, it was strict order to develop procedure how we can have new bottles, new caps or open cap.
And this FSB officer, he was responsible for the day when I gave closed Bereg-Kit, and after half an hour, I receive it opened.
And the… cap and the bottle are the same.
And I can… [imitates pouring]
A little bit rinse and then pour and close.
[imitates lid locking]
Like Bereg-Kit.
It’s unbelievable how they could do this.
This was named Operation Sochi Resultat.
In Russian, “Resultat” means “to achieve positive results.”
[Fogel] So, you need clean urines?
[Rodchenkov] I need clean urines for each candidate.
[Fogel] For every single Russian athlete under the state-sponsored doping, you had clean samples of their urine being held?
Yes.
[Fogel] If an athlete needed to be swapped, you could swap ’em.
[Rodchenkov] Yes.
But in Sochi, because of the Olympics, I am under double control.
Both from IOC, WADA and I don’t know who.
Level of security is stunning. It’s unbelievable.
[Rabin] There was a delegation of foreign scientists who were embedded in the laboratory.
So, if there were substitutions, manipulations, these people would’ve been in the front line to observe this.
In Sochi, laboratory was like this.
It was our entrance, but from this behind, where we have a fire exit, there is another building. It was a KGB building.
And bank of clean urines were kept here.
[man] Coming into the final two heats of the four-man bobsleigh, Pilot Alexander Zubkov and brakeman Alexey Voevoda…
[crowd cheering]
Gold to Russia, making their pilot the oldest man ever to win the four-man bobsleigh.
[Fogel] So how many FSB officers were working at Sochi?
Hundred.
Throughout the day, our KGB officer brought the clean urines of all our athletes selected for testing to our secret operational room in the laboratory.
Meanwhile, all the urines collected from the athletes during the day were transported to the Olympic village and held until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.
Then I received a call.
“Grigory, I will be delivering the samples in 15 minutes.”
Before samples arrived, it gave me time to make sure that there were no WADA or IOC observers left snooping around the laboratory.
Once samples were checked in, the operation entered the most dangerous phase.
When the A and B bottles were split on to two different carts, my assistant wheeled the B bottles into a storage room and slipped the Russian athletes’ B bottles into his lab coat.
This is highly illegal, but we need to replace these dirty urines.
Then he wheeled the cart with the A bottles into the aliquoting room, as per procedure.
[Fogel] ‘Cause it’s supposed to be opened.
[Rodchenkov] For all A samples, yes.
To escape all the video recording, aliquoting room was like this.
And our room, we had the hole in it.
So we take this little bit…
How you say this thing? It’s…
Uh…
Like this, if you have something…
You take this table out, and there is a… like a… like a power outlet blocked without any, uh… socket.
Okay, right, right.
But then you take it out.
So it looks like it’s a power outlet without a socket, but it’s not.
It’s not. It’s a hole.
It’s a hole.
[Rodchenkov] You’re taking both samples through this hole, and A samples, we immediately… pour away and clean.
[Fogel] But the B sample…
[Rodchenkov] B samples are taken by KGB and… whew!
In the darkness, people coming from the trash/fire exit.
[imitating footsteps]
Then, after two hours, they came back with B bottles opened to swap.
Because, of course, you have in advance clean urine.
So, B samples are finished with the urine swapping.
Taken by KGB and…
[Fogel] Because the B samples are taken by the IOC and held in long-term storage.
[Rodchenkov] Yes.
[Fogel] If WADA or the IOC retest those samples, would they be clean?
[Rodchenkov] Reanalysis will return negative.
Because, you know, we are top-level cheaters.
[chuckles]
To over-cheat us, you should be much such experienced.
But how it comes, such experience?
[chuckles]
[Fogel] If there were evidence brought forward that showed that a country or WADA lab had found a way to break into the collection bottles, what do you think that would say about the entire testing system?
What it would say is that corruption has gone to the depths of… that part of the process, which would be most disturbing.
It would be, uh… obviously a very serious, serious act of manipulation from that lab.
It would be done. It wouldn’t work.
If that can be done successfully, then the testing system is over.
[Fogel] Does WADA have the ability to catch drug cheats today?
No.
[choir singing Russian national anthem]
[Rodchenkov] Because of this whole steroid program, I pulled off 13 gold medals.
It’s unbelievable.
Never before. [chuckles]
Everything was made clean, and Putin was very much happy.
[anthem continuing]
[woman] Russia came out on top of the medals board, winning 33 overall, including an Olympic high of 13 gold.
[crowd cheering]
[Rodchenkov] But immediately after, he started war against Ukraine.
[man] Before the Olympics, his popularity rating in Russia had been falling steadily for years.
But when the games began, this.
[Rodchenkov] I felt my personal guilt for such event.
Would Russia had less medals, Putin would be not such aggressive.
[man] What you’re about to hear is not lifted from a Tom Clancy novel, nor is it borrowed from the elegant prose of John Le Carré or adapted from Robert Ludlum’s work.
But if the protagonist is to be believed, this drama is the ultimate handiwork of Vladimir Putin and the intelligence successors to the KGB.
LA may be a lot safer than Mother Russia, given the recent…
Bryan!
[Fogel] Yeah?
Article is incredible. It’s so very good.
I am shocked. I’m reading twice.
You know, Russia even cannot breathe.
They still even don’t respond.
Of course, there it is, midnight, but…
[Fogel] Let me stop you.
I just spoke to our lawyer.
What happened?
[Fogel] They’re not returning any of his calls.
I am arrested?
[Fogel] We don’t know yet. We’re in a holding pattern.
I am sitting locked in my home. I’m a little bit afraid.
[Fogel] Let me get this done, and I’ll come by, okay?
Putin will kill me.
[man 1] Rodchenkov…
[man 2] …allegations…
[woman] Dozens of Sochi medal winners were part of a secret…
[Rodchenkov] Nine, one, seven.
[overlapping chatter in Russian]
[exhales sharply] Okay.
[man] He has since fled Russia because he said he feared for his life.
[woman] Russia’s sports minister has dismissed the claims as nonsense, adding they were a continuation of the attack on Russian sport, which was backed up by the deputy sports minister.
[in Russian] So that this is clear for everyone…
there has never been and there is not any doping program.
[woman] Vladimir Putin calls the claims “the slander of a turncoat.”
[Fogel] We’re meeting with a white-collar attorney who has handled a lot of criminal cases.
[man on phone] What happened with his other lawyer?
[Fogel] His other lawyer, they have a Moscow office.
It appears that the firm got cold feet due to a conflict of interest, they said.
[man] Thomas Bach, who heads the IOC, said, “If this is true, it is an unimaginable level of criminality.”
[woman] The IOC calling the report “very worrying.”
[man] “We ask the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate immediately.”
[man 2] The Justice Department is opening an investigation into Russian government officials, athletes, coaches and anti-doping authorities.
[Fogel] This letter was sent by WADA.
“Dear Grigory, in light of your recent declarations to The New York Times, we would like to meet to better understand the basis of your allegations and your proposed way forward. Sincerely, David Howman and Olivier Niggli.”
I’m talking tomorrow to another lawyer.
So…
He seems credible, but of course, it’s his word against Russia.
[man in Russian] There were older questions regarding Rodchenkov’s mental health in all this, as four years ago, after a failed suicide attempt, he was placed into a mental institution, the diagnosis described as the first stages of schizophrenia.
[Rodchenkov] What to do with my wife and children? What they will know?
Or I just disappear for them? They’ll go crazy.
[Howman] Bryan, this is David and Olivier. We want this meeting to go ahead.
Can you call us back?
I’m not ready to answer.
We need something lucky, like it’s Alice in Wonderland, to rabbit’s hole, to sit here.
[Fogel] I know.
[Rodchenkov] To wait until it ends.
[Fogel] I know. That’s why I wanna… [chuckles]
We’re trying to get this… To make it right.
[Rodchenkov] But lawyer is trustful?
[Fogel] He is a big one.
[Rodchenkov] He’s a big one.
[Fogel] Yeah, top of the top of the top.
[Rodchenkov] Yes.
[man in Russian] We are digging deeper into his identity.
We’ve obtained some of his exclusive documents.
[woman in Russian] Grigory Rodchenkov and American movie director Bryan Fogel, they talked many times via e-mail and wrote…
[man in Russian] The FBI are following him closely, Grigory Rodchenkov himself mentioned to his sister in a recent Skype call.
[Marina in Russian] Grish, just sit tight. Don’t be too impulsive.
[Rodchenkov] No, of course I will not do anything…
[Marina] Of course. Absolutely.
[Rodchenkov] …without the protection of the FBI.
[speaking Russian]
[man speaking Russian]
[in Russian] I refuse to make any comments on this. I’m very sorry.
I’m sure you have very intelligent people who can explain all this.
[Rodchenkov in Russian] Honey, I already spoke to the children. They’re fine.
[Veronika] Grisha, now it’s another problem.
I’m worried about you.
[Rodchenkov] I’ll take care of this. Just hold on.
[Veronika] This is what I’m worried about.
They’re turning us into the monster now.
Or trying to.
[Radchenkov] It’s okay. We’ll get through this.
[Veronika] What do you want to come of all this?
[Rodchenkov in English] “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free… when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone.”
[Jim Walden] What everyone is interested in is the evidence he has, both in terms of the documents on his computer and the cell phone that he was using at the time.
Two people connected with the Russian doping program are dead under circumstances that seem highly suspect.
One of the first things that I learned from authorities when I came onto the case was that the Russian government has the resources and the will.
So we’ve had to develop a very multi-stage protocol to minimize the chances our conversations will be intercepted.
The main concern is that they would be able, through those communications, to try to triangulate his location, and if they have agents in the United States, then to do him harm.
[man] We’re 84 days away till the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
[woman] Until now, there’s only been hard evidence about athletics, but this is pointing the finger at a whole range of sports.
[Fogel] As you know, there’s a Department of Justice investigation going.
Grigory’s been advised by his lawyer he should not be here for security reasons.
I worked with Grigory over about six months to compile a record of what happened in Russia.
This is the spreadsheet of every single athlete that was on the state-mandated protocol.
What every single athlete was taking in London, including their sample numbers and collection.
When Christiane goes back and tests these samples correctly, she will basically find them all positive.
And we have all their protocols before the London Games.
We have the same for Beijing.
And this outlines how Russia was collecting thousands and thousands of clean samples for swapping.
No, no, this we saw, but we want to ask question as well as how it was done, understanding…
So, sodium chloride is added to the sample to increase specific gravity.
Many of these samples are gonna have a hundred times the sodium content that should be in somebody’s urine.
Let me make sure I understand.
They were taking the B to be opened secretly?
Yes.
You said it was removed after the Paralympic Games.
Does it mean that it happened also for the Paralympic Games?
Yes, yes.
Both the Olympic and the Paralympic Games, they swapped urine.
Vancouver was really the impetus for the urine swapping operation.
They only won a handful of medals, and to see to it that that didn’t happen again at Sochi.
We’ll find that out when…
In terms of time-sensitive, London is more sensitive, in the sense that these athletes are going to the next Rio Games, not the winter ones.
[Fogel] This is Sochi. This is London. This is Beijing.
This goes all the way back to 1968.
There never was anti-doping in Russia. Period. Ever.
Across all summer sports?
Every sport.
[Christiane Ayotte] He’s sorry?
Who’s that?
[Ayotte] Grigory.
[man] I don’t want to get into that.
Do you think, as a scientist, I am happy to have been in Sochi?
And to everything… We gave credibility to the lab.
Do you think that I feel good today?
Do you think that the athletes who were cheated feel good?
[Fogel] As angry as you guys might be, I think the one thing…
Grigory risked his life, and is risking his life, to do this.
He left his wife behind, he left his children behind, he left all of his belongings behind, all of his financial security behind.
We’re here to get everything out.
Okay.
[Fogel] “Dear Mr. Fogel and Dr. Rodchenkov, the IOC has full confidence in the authority of Professor Richard McLaren and respects his judgment to ensure a comprehensive inquiry. We will act swiftly to take the necessary measures. Sincerely yours, Thomas Bach. President.”
[automated voice] Transferring you to Richard McLaren.
[McLaren] You speak of them as being orders. Are they actually orders?
Nagornykh is ordering Grigory? Or ordering the lab?
Does it matter?
Yes, Nagornykh is ordering Grigory.
There’s e-mails, like, explicitly about soccer players.
There’s e-mails explicitly of, you know, of weightlifters.
And that essentially were…
Of rowers, of swimmers… where Grigory had found the positive.
[McLaren] Then if they are concerned about it, they find the right profile in the bank, and pick that one out of the bank, and they run the analysis on that one?
You got it.
[McLaren] I see.
If this all can be proved, it’s quite mind-blowing.
The sooner I have it, the better.
Okay.
[McLaren] It’s important to a lot of people around the world.
[Rodchenkov] We do it now?
[Fogel] Yes.
Russian athletes could not credibly return to international competition without undermining the confidence of their competitors and the public.
[man] They are the pride and joy of Russian sport.
But track and field stars, like pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, won’t be going for gold at next month’s Rio Olympics, despite having friends in high places.
[Yelena Isinbayeva speaking Russian]
This is truly important to us, because…
[sniffles]
[audience applauding]
Today, our track and field team finds itself in a dire situation.
We have been banned from the Olympics
very aggressively, without any evidence or proof.
[man in Russian] Rodchenkov, director of the Moscow WADA lab, was forced to resign from his position even though, when you think about it, he was a brilliant doctor.
So he’s fired, and then somehow ends up in the United States, where he subsequently took his story to The New York Times.
Not exactly the smallest paper on Earth.
He gets there, he turns over all this information.
Finally, he stated that the entire doping program was in fact part of a state-run system.
Whatever he claims, he is confusing himself with the government.
You see, all of his claims against the government, he did himself.
It was a solo act.
So the swapping, the destruction of samples, this was all just a farce?
Again, I just don’t see how this is possible. How could it be?
Please let me repeat, these allegations are not facts, just rumors and speculations.
[woman in English] Welcome to the McLaren Independent Commission news conference here in Toronto.
In May, Professor McLaren was mandated by the World Anti-Doping Agency with respect to the allegations made by the former director of the WADA-accredited Moscow laboratory, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov.
The investigation has established the findings set out in the report beyond a reasonable doubt.
Our experts were to determine if samples had scratches and marks on the inside of the bottle caps, representative of a tool used to open the cap.
Of the set of samples suspected of being swapped…
we were able to confirm…
100% had evidence of tampering.
We’ve conducted cyber and forensic analysis, secured data from hard drives, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents.
The Moscow laboratory operated for the protection of doped Russian athletes within a state-directed, fail-safe system.
Ministry of Sport, Deputy Minister of Sport Yuri Nagornykh, RUSADA, that’s the anti-doping agency in Russia, and the former director of the Moscow testing laboratory were all involved in this operation with the active participation and assistance of the Russian Federal Security Service, formerly known as the KGB.
The FSB, who had access to the Sochi lab under the guise of the building maintenance contractor, can be identified in the evidence we have.
Alex Mihailovich, RT.
Rodchenkov himself is a person who’s under investigation in Russia currently.
He took off from Russia.
He seems to be a character that you really can’t rely on, and a lot of this relies on Rodchenkov.
Does this compromise your work?
He is a person in this investigation, but not the only person in this investigation.
I can say without a doubt, Dr. Rodchenkov is telling the truth and was a truthful witness.
I was able to corroborate that because of all the scientific and forensic information.
My team can demonstrate the existence of this system beyond a reasonable doubt.
[Reedie] It was clear from Richard McLaren’s report that was contained in our independent commission, it’s proven that offenses were committed.
So, I don’t think anybody can accuse us of sitting back and doing nothing.
[man] President Putin condemned the findings, saying the world is seeing a dangerous recurrence of politics interfering in sport.
[man] Russia’s government says any decision which collectively punishes its competitors is unacceptable.
Richard Conway, BBC News.
[sighs]
I’m gonna be rolling your hands like that.
Let me do all of the work. It makes it easier for everybody.
[Rodchenkov in Russian] What were you all doing today?
[Veronika] We were worrying all day.
But today, I was paying for everything, bills, etc.
[Rodchenkov] Nika, we will get through this.
Oh, you have new glasses!
[Veronika] Not that new.
I have some sad news to tell you.
Yes?
I am going into the witness protection program.
You are?
Mm-hmm.
Why?
Because the current situation is unclear.
So, this is serious?
Yes.
For a while?
I was thinking of you yesterday.
Well, visa is just one thing, but…
You are my bride and keeper of the family and the dogs.
Grigory, I was worrying all day, and on top of that, trying to reach you.
Don’t tell anyone anything.
Who would I even tell? I don’t see much of anyone these days.
Maybe they’ll pay off some officials to sit in prison for some time?
As a formality.
I have to get going.
Veronika?
Yes?
You wrote down the lawyer’s contact information and have everything?
You know what I’m talking about?
Of course I understand. It’s just… This is all so sad.
[man in English] Whatever packing you need to do and getting dressed…
[Rodchenkov] Okay. Okay.
[speaking indistinctly]
[Fogel] So, do we know what, uh, you’re gonna be able to…
[Rodchenkov] I still don’t know how it will be organized.
“Protection” means protection that you don’t know how it’s organized.
[Fogel] What do you foresee at this point?
I will start writing book. [chuckles]
Oh, we are on the first floor.
Where is the exit?
I wonder when I’m going to see you again.
Don’t worry. I’ll be back. [laughs]
[laughing] Bryan, you are medium-sized monster!
Remember me.
[inaudible]
We have decided today that Russian athletes can compete in Rio.
[Thomas Bach] The International Sports Federations will carry out individual analysis, taking into account…
[woman] Anti-doping officials are fuming.
The IOC going against the World Anti-Doping Agency recommendations…
[starter gun sounds]
[crowd cheering]
[man] …Olympic champion. Vlasov had won gold again.
[Rodchenkov] “Winston sank his arms to his sides and slowly refilled his lungs with air.
His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink.
To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies.”
[announcer] Thomas Bach.
[Rodchenkov] “To repudiate morality while laying claim to it.
To forget whatever it was necessary to forget…”
[Bach] Join and support our fight for fair play.
Respect the rules, play fair, be clean.
[Rodchenkov] “…then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed…”
[Bach] This decision is about justice.
Justice has to be independent from politics.
Hurrah!
[crowd] Hurrah!
[Rodchenkov] “…and then promptly to forget it again.”
[man] Fails a drug test, is stripped of the gold medal…
[Rodchenkov] “…and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself.”
[man] Trying to make sure your testimony’s clear.
How many times do I have to say it? I’ve never taken drugs. How clear is that?
[man] Okay. I think it’s clear.
[Rodchenkov] “And if all others accepted the lie, then the lie passed into history and became truth.”
[in Russian] We’ve never had a doping program in Russia.
This is just impossible, unthinkable. We would never do something like that.
I don’t even recall the name of that citizen who defected, the one who ran the Russian anti-doping lab.
[Rodchenkov in English] “Even to understand the word ‘doublethink’ involves the use of doublethink.”
[McLaren] We are now able to put the findings of the first report into sharper and clearer focus.
I can confirm, for years, that spectators have been deceived.
The desire to win medals superseded their collective moral and ethical compass, and Olympic values…
[Rodchenkov] I was doing in parallel two things which canceled out each other in being fully contradictory.
Doping and anti-doping.
It was pure, exact doublethink.
I was like a slave.
Slavery was my freedom… till the end.
So… truth.
