Two findings stand out in the investigation of blatant corruption and cheating in Russia's athletics program: The mindset that doping was acceptable because "everybody's doing it," and the willingness of some athletes, coaches and technical staff to speak out, despite Russia's climate of fear and anti-Westernism.

The investigation, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, stemmed from a documentary by Hajo Seppelt, "Top Secret Doping: How Russia Creates Its Winners," shown by the German TV channel ARD last year. Seppelt, a long-time anti-doping crusader, has uncovered the use of performance drugs and testing shenanigans in various sports and countries, from Germany to Kenya. His Russian expose has been the most sweeping, though, thanks to the help of two Russian whistle-blowers, Vitaly and Yulia Stepanov. The husband used to be a doping control officer, the wife a top 800-meter runner. They didn't only tell Seppelt how coaches, doctors and other officials insisted that athletes take forbidden drugs and how doping control officials were bribed to fix test results; they also surreptitiously recorded conversations with people in the sport to prove the allegations.

Given Seppelt's powerful material, the investigators knew what they were looking for and, although they met with a predictable amount of obstruction, more people told them similar stories. They even spoke of police and intelligence service surveillance and intimidation, helping the investigative commission to arrive at the conclusion that the doping system in Russian track and field was state-sponsored.

The system's existence won't shock anyone familiar with elite sports, especially as practiced in former Communist countries. Seppelt's early investigations concerned the East German sports pharma machine, famous for producing champions who never got caught. In his 1999 book "Dying to Win," Barrie Houlihan cited an Australian government report of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which most Western countries boycotted in response the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: "There is hardly a medal winner at the Moscow Games, certainly not a gold medal winner, who is not on one drug or another: usually several kinds. The Moscow Games might as well have been called the Chemists' Games." Yet no one got caught: the KGB reportedly made sure of that to keep Leonid Brezhnev's showcase games scandal-free. 

David Fuller's view

In the Governance is Everything theme, this report shows how top-down corruption can ruin not only a sporting event but also make an entire country dysfunctional. 

Fortunately, the truth usually emerges at some point, as we are seeing yet again.  This should help Seb Coe in his new role as president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).  He is a good man with a tough job on his hands, because nothing less than a dedicated root and branch move against doping in sport has a chance of success.  It may also cost Seb Coe financially, at least in the short term, as he is already being asked to end his association with Nike. 

Over the years I have heard commentators say that it is impossible to clean up sport because the cheats will always have more money and incentive to beat the system.  That is a short-sighted and deplorable attitude, equivalent to saying let’s just give everyone the latest drugs so that we can at least have a level playing field.  Never mind that it also damages their genes.

(See also: Seb Coe latest news)