In Russia, runner Yuliya Stepanova trained at camps where three meals a day were prepared for her. She had access to a masseuse and recovery methods, and she was paid to be there.
Now, she trains by herself at an undisclosed location in the United States. She is her own coach. Vitaly Stepanov, her husband, is her training partner. Stepanova cooks her own meals.
She says she’s no longer doping, as she was in Russia. And she’s no longer competing, a result of the couple’s decision to provide evidence that helped lead anti-doping officials to conclude Russia was operating a state-sponsored doping system in athletics.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) meets on Friday to decide whether the Russian track and field team can compete in the Rio Olympics. Its federation has been banned from international competition since November, when a World Anti-Doping Agency independent commission report revealed widespread doping.
Stepanova finds herself caught in that ban against the system she exposed. Whether and when the IAAF will make any sort of decision on allowing the 29-year-old to compete again is unclear.
The track federation did not respond to multiple emails from USA TODAY Sports asking about Stepanova’s case.
“The hope is that IAAF will understand my case and possibly give me some kind of special status that even WADA supports that I should have that so I can compete,” Yuliya Stepanova told USA TODAY Sports, with her husband translating between Russian and English. “What happens after June 17, I cannot say as of now how I will feel.”
Vitaly Stepanov, who was an employee at the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), began emailing WADA in 2010 about doping in Russian sports. Eventually, his wife joined him in revealing the extent of the doping, surreptitiously recording audio and video conversations, which the commission later forensically verified, and turning over text messages and emails that supported the doping allegations.
Stepanova was banned for two years for use or attempted use of a prohibited substance or method, a suspension she served in full from 2013-15.
The Stepanovs shared their story and evidence with German broadcaster ARD, which aired a documentary on Russian doping in December 2014. The Stepanovs left Russia for Germany before that.
Stepanova’s ban ended in January 2015, and the IAAF allowed her to resume competition. She trained in Germany and ran an Olympic qualifying time in the 800 meters in June 2015.
Five months later, she found herself unable to compete under the IAAF’s ban of the entire Russian athletics federation. While athletes there can compete in domestic competition, Stepanov says his family would not be safe returning to a country where they have been branded traitors.
It makes no sense to Stepanov. Anti-doping rules allow for a reduction of a ban for providing substantial assistance. His wife didn’t ask for that, admitted to her involvement in doping and provided a trove of evidence that formed the foundation of the independent commission report, yet still finds herself unable to compete.
“She got another ban for providing substantial assistance,” he said. “I don’t think it’s even sending a good message. It’s just illogical. Maybe because I am her husband, I am not looking at it correctly. But the code says if you provide substantial assistance, they will actually support and reduce your ban. Well, that’s not what happened to us.”
Since November, the Stepanovs have written to the IAAF, WADA and the International Olympic Committee, pleading for Stepanova to be allowed to compete in general but also in Rio.
They have sought to ease concerns about Stepanova doping again. She was added to the IAAF’s testing pool in January 2015 and has been tested six times this year, Stepanov said. In an affidavit and correspondence to the IAAF, WADA and the IOC, Stepanova says she has not doped from 2013-16 and vows not to dope in the future.
While the decision falls to the IAAF, Stepanov said they have no indication from the IAAF on how or if it will decide on her case.
They’d like Stepanova to be considered to compete under the IOC flag as a team of 10 refugee athletes is set to do if the IAAF bars Russia from the Olympics. According to the IOC, only the IAAF can decide her ability to compete internationally.
Stepanova has support in her request to compete.
“First of all, she has served her ban. There’s no reason why she shouldn’t return to competition,” said Beckie Scott, chair of the WADA athletes’ committee. “But second, nobody potentially in the history of sport has made the contribution that she has to anti-doping and to fair, clean sport. She is a special case and should be treated as such.”
WADA spokesman Ben Nichols said president Craig Reedie appealed to the presidents of the IAAF and IOC and that he supports Stepanova’s return to competition.
The Institute for National Anti-Doping Organizations (iNADO) has also supported the Stepanovs.
“If anyone deserves to compete there, one would think she would be that person,” said Joseph de Pencier, founding CEO of iNADO. “And notwithstanding some of the statements, for example, out of the IAAF, I don’t think they have bent over backwards to make that any easier for her, which seems to me both sad in itself but, boy, it’s a missed opportunity to send some really positive messages about how we value clean sport and how we value the people who through their personal integrity uphold clean sport at some considerable cost.”
For now, Stepanov is trying to keep the promise he made to Stepanova when she decided to join him in providing evidence of doping. You’ll be able to compete again, he told her.
Now that decision falls to the hands of the track federation that so far has frustrated the whistleblowers.
“It seems that she’s (considered) a traitor in her own country, and IAAF kind of prefers to close eyes on that part, that it’s not their problem that Russia is treating her that way,” Stepanov said. “They don’t know how to deal with her.”
