When the World Anti-Doping Agency board met last month to discuss development of a whistleblower policy, it had Vitaly Stepanov join by conference call to share his experiences. A former employee of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, Stepanov and his wife, Yuliya, had become important whistleblowers after exposing state-sponsored doping in Russia.
Stepanov spoke of him and his wife leaving Russia with their young son, Robert, first for Germany and now for an undisclosed location in the United States. Neither Vitaly nor Yuliya, an 800-meter runner, can work here without visas.
He told them of mockery and threats they face on social media, mostly from their home country where state-run media has sought to undermine a WADA independent commission report released in November that, largely based on evidence collected by the Stepanovs, laid bare the extent of doping in Russian athletics.