Yuliya Stepanova, formerly known as Yuliya Rusanova, said coach Vladimir Mokhnev introduced her to testosterone injections and anabolic steroids. After abnormalities were found in her biological passport, the IAAF announced a two-year ban on 26 February 2013 and stripped her results from 3 March 2011 onward. Stepanova and her husband, Vitaly Stepanov, a former RUSADA official, later supplied WADA with letters and secretly recorded conversations involving Russian officials, coaches, doctors and athletes.
In a 2014 German television documentary, the couple alleged that officials supplied banned substances, falsified tests with doping-control personnel, and demanded 5% of athletes’ earnings. Their disclosures prompted a WADA investigation and contributed to allegations that Russia operated a state-sponsored doping program; those specific allegations were attributed to the whistleblowers and subsequent investigations. The IOC rejected Stepanova’s request to compete at the 2016 Olympics on 24 July 2016 despite an IAAF recommendation recognizing her exceptional anti-doping contribution. In August 2016, WADA said her athlete-account information had been hacked. She later testified before the U.S. Helsinki Commission in July 2018, warning that speaking out had put her life at risk.
