"Dopers are better commercialized"
Yuliya Stepanova is the star witness of the doping scandal in Russia. But why does no one respond to her allegations and evidence? In the FAZ interview the runner talks about her flight from Russia, her fears and more evidence.
To name names and to show pictures of dopers seems to be dangerous. The 28-year-old 800-meter runner has left her home country Russia with her husband Vitaliy and the couple's son. For in the ARD documentary "Top Secret Doping: How Russia makes her winners" sound and video recordings were broadcasted in addition to their description of the doping system, which prove doping practised by the coach, the team doctor and the Olympic champion Savinova. Under her maiden name Yuliya Rusanova they was runner-up at the 2011 European Indoor Championships in Paris; in the summer of the same year she ran her personal best of 1:56.99 minutes at the Russian championship. When she was banned for doping in 2013, the International Association of Athletics Federations IAAF canceled all her results since 2011.
"You're a middle distance runner and banned until the end of January for doping. How did this happen?"
I've been banned for abnormal blood values. I had taken Epo. I confessed it nearly two years ago in a letter to the Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency). I wrote in it, how the Russian national team coach provided me with Epo and how Dr. Portugalov, chief of the Medical Commission of the Russian Federation, instructed me to dope.
"Why do you spill the beans in the ARD documentation and right here now?"
My husband Vitaliy and I want to bring the truth to light. No one has ever said I had to take it. But I wanted to be an athlete, and everyone said that if I wanted to be a top athlete, I would have to cooperate. They said that it's practised all over the world. In Russia they say: Laws are made to be broken, and many follow this device. There are rules, and there is the real life.
"In the film it can be seen how you're handed various doping substances by your coach. Did you take anything else before you started Epo doping?"
In Russia, it's called the cocktail. It contains various substances: Epo for endurance, steroids for power and other stuff.
"And everyone is in it?"
Officials and coaches say that the steroids were much stronger in the eighties. The say that the athletes of that era are all well, there are no side effects, many have children. My coach in Kursk, my hometown, was Vladimir Mokhnev. He was steeple chaser in the Soviet era and took steroids himself. Look at me, he says. I am fit and healthy.
"That sounds ominous."
He has no medical training. He gave out steroids and EPO according to hearsay; he did not really know how to do it. For heavy doses of steroids, I got so hard muscles that I assumed that they had grown. But I could not run. Sometimes I could not train ten days until the muscles returned. The same with Epo: He said what dosage I should take, but I did not know how. First he injected the substances, then myself.
"Was it different in the national team?"
I was supervised by Sergey Portugalov, the head of the Medical Commission. He has extensive experience in various sports. That's why I called him Professor. If you know how to do it, you do not have to train so hard. At the national level, I have much more improved than under my first coach.
"Did you ever fear for yourself and the children you wanted?"
You always hear: Don't worry, everything is fine. Then you do not worry. I thought it was normal to have seven to ten days of hard muscles after taking steroids. I thought that every athlete has to go through this all for his development. In 2006, I became very ill, and the coach predicted that I would never again be able to run fast. But my doctor promised me that I would get well and would run faster than before. You know that steroids are used as medicines. At the time I took it for the first time; the doctor found that they helped. I started to train and built up force.
"How old were you?"
I started late with sport, with seventeen. At that time I was almost twenty-two.
"How did you learn about doping?"
When I was fifteen seconds slower at junior championships than the best in the 800 meters, I was told that the runners take banned substances. It's like the system shows you that you go to your coach and ask for the stuff: Hey, I want to be among the best and not trailing behind for one hundred meters! Always you're told that your own skills last only to a certain point. For the rest you need help. This is doping.
"Did you take growth hormones?"
When I was training regionally, my coach did not know how to use it. These substances are also expensive. In 2008, we tried growth hormones for a week. But because the coach did not know how to do it, we saw no effect. Since then I haven't taken any of it. In the National Team they approved of it. Coaches and officials considered it as potential for my development.
"It is common?"
In Russia they say growth hormones are practically undetectable. You can detect it just for one day. I recorded a conversation of athletes saying, to have effects, you need to apply growth hormones for three to four months.
"When did your attitude change?"
When you hear that this system exists all over the world, you believe that you must join in. When I asked Portugalov about it, he said, if you do what I say, you'll never be caught. I asked why people in Russia and other countries are banned, and he replied that these people probably acted unprofessionally; on their own and not within the system of their country.
"He has not protected anyway?"
In early 2013 national coach Melnikov called. We have here a paper, he said, stating that you are banned because of the values in your biological passport. I say: That's impossible. I did exactly what you told me. And you carry on after causing me this trouble? Things happen, he said, we're sorry, now sign and keep on relaxing for two years!
"How did Portugalov react?"
The International Association of Athletics Federations had previously sent documents to the Russian Federation with suspicious values of Russian athletes. In 2012 I was among them. Portugalov sent a text message: Sorry, I changed my job, I don't do that anymore. From then on, he was no longer accessible to me. I only communicated with Melnikov.
"What about your values?"
In early 2011 they were really abnormal. In 2012 rumors began to start that I could be banned. But I wasn't banned until early 2013. For two years I was able to keep on training and taking part in competitions, although they knew with 99.9 percent certainty that I was doped. I'm not the only one who was in such a situation. The whole control system of the IAAF doesn't make any sense to me.
"What do you think: Why doesn't the World Association respond?"
Doped athletes run faster. Maybe faster times are better commercialised.
"You married in 2009 - of all people a man of the National Anti-Doping Agency Rusada. How could you go on?"
I had learned that you can't do without doping. My times were getting better all the time. Vitaliy worked for the Rusada, he frowned on doping. The turning point that really united us was the ban in early 2013. The one disappeared, the other said he did not really know how the blood pass works. This hurt me. Just sign, Melnikov said. His attitude was: If you come back in two years, there will be a steroid-pass, and we will not know how to handle it. Then a lot of athletes will be banned again, but how can we be blamed for it?
"Your consequence?"
We decided to talk to the Wada. There was no point to talk to Rusada, they all collaborate. We wrote e-mails, then we met with their staff.
"Did the Wada encourage you to carry on with the national team, in order to obtain evidence?"
Of course they wanted to know how it works. We told them the truth. But these were just words and no hard evidence. The first thing the people of the Wada said was: Care for your safety. Doping is doping, but don't harm yourself. I knew that I must prove what I say.
"You made recordings of Melnikov and Portugalov advising you and handing out doping stuff to you. You filmed the 800-meter Olympic champion Mariya Savinova talking about her experience with the doping substance Oxandrolone."
These were all lies, says the President of the Russian Federation Valentin Balakhnichev. The association wants to sue us. But we have evidence. Much more than the German television showed. You just cannot continuously show sixty minutes of proofs.
"Did you achieve your goal?"
The most important thing was to attract attention with the documentation. We hope that now someone from the IAAF or the Wada will contact us in order to view the entire material. So far that has not yet happened.
"Both organizations say they're investigating."
We sometimes joke about it. Which investigations? Until now no one has asked us to provide our recordings. What we would do without saying.
"When did you stop doping?"
2013. I was pregnant, our son was born in November 2013. In May 2014 I started training again.
"How did you master the coolness filming coaches, doctors and athletes, while they practised doping?"
I was not cold-blooded. Every time I recorded something with my phone, I was nervous. Especially when people looked at the phone, I worried every time about them getting suspicious. That would have brought us into great trouble in Russia. I'm not a cheater. I've made mistakes, but for a good future I have to make sacrifices. This was one. I have learned to act like James Bond.
"Are you in danger?"
We left Russia. Today we feel safe. What is in the future, I don't know. No one knows the consequences of this story. If more athletes turn against the fraud scheme, the situation could get out of control there.
"Did you have support while you were in Russia?"
The greatest support was that the Wada believed us and that Hajo Seppelt of the German television believed us. We knew what we did this for.
"If the doping system is a hierarchy: how far up does it reach?"
It is obvious that it is the goal of a country to win as many medals as possible at World Championships and Olympic Games. The goal of our state is to prove that Russia is greater and better than any other country in the world. In every field. The President, the Ministry, the Anti-Doping Agency: all know that the ultimate goal is to win medals. If you see the results of the Olympic Games in London and the World Athletics Championships in Moscow ...
"... Number two in athletics with eight Olympic victories and number one in Moscow with seven gold medals ..."
... Then you know that the system works. If it is successful, why should they change it?
"If the President of the IAAF asked for advice: How should he deal with the Russian athletics?"
Officials supporting doping instead of fighting it should be kicked out. Since most of the coaches come from the Soviet Union, it might be impossible to change their views. If one is really aiming at combatting doping, one has to ban officials and coaches not for two or four years, but for life. The Ministry should employ young coaches from abroad and give them time to build a system that works without doping. The entire association should be excluded for two years from all international competitions.
"Do you have an explanation, why now that you have fulfilled your mission and brought evidence Wada does nothing?"
The Wada is a toothless tiger.