Tale from the centre of a scandal

TheRodchenkovAffair ByDr Grigory Rodchenkov, PenguinRandomHouse,$40

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.. Dr Grigory Rodchenkov has lived in exile since 2015 after fearing for his life. That’s because he helped run the most successful sport doping enterprise in world history.

Hewas also director of the MoscowAntiDoping Centre, making sure hundreds of Russian athletes were never caughtwith banned substances. What he was doing was “cleaning” samples.

In 2015, theCentre was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency after an elaborate state-sponsored doping programme at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics was revealed.

Rodchenkov provided an almost undetectable steroid, tampering and switching urine samples in a state-sanctioned cover-up. This is his story, from growing up in Russia, encountering doping as a student athlete and then working for the Soviet Olympic Committee. It’s a revealing story of moral choices and a system of deceit.

Rodchenkov says he’s not making excuses for his behaviour or trying to justify what he did, as a leading chemical scientist.

It’s about a system that led to a ‘win at all costs’ mentality for which he became a whistleblower. The movieIcarus, whichwonan Oscar, details Rodchenkov’s actions and revealed there was more to come.

Russia hoped he’d never talk, but he has. Not brilliantly written but a fascinating story.

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