Rodchenkov said he developed a three-drug cocktail of banned substances that he mixed with liquor and provided to dozens of athletes at the Sochi Olympics.
[12] In 2011, Russian authorities opened an investigation against Rodchenkov's sister, champion runner Marina Rodchenkova [ru], for buying and possessing banned drugs that she admitted she had intended to supply to athletes.
[1] The IC established that Rodchenkov "not only accepted, but also requested money" from athletes in order to conceal their positive test results.
[citation needed] In addition, "Rodchenkov instructed that all records showing the existence of the samples, as well as any documentation of the resulting analysis, be destroyed."
[20][21] Two major Russian anti-doping executives, Vyacheslav Sinev and Rodchenkov's friend Nikita Kamaev, unexpectedly died in the months after the doping scandal started.
[25] Rodchenkov also gave details to The New York Times, alleging that Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB, previously KGB) was involved in covering up positive doping samples.
[31] According to McLaren's summary of the evidence provided by Dr. Rodchenkov, a key aspect of the doping scheme was the creation and use of a so-called "Sochi Duchess List".
This list contained the names of 37 Russian athletes "whose samples were to be automatically swapped for their own clean urine stored in the FSB Command Center at Sochi".
[32][33] The Russian Olympic Committee insists that the Duchess List is nothing more than a competition schedule, which was prepared ahead of the Sochi Games for the purpose of identifying potential medallists.
[18] The McLaren Report stated that Rodchenkov was "an integral part of the conspiracy to extort money from athletes in order to cover up positive doping test results.
[28] In November 2017, an IOC panel concluded: "Whatever his motivation may be and whichever wrongdoing he may have committed in the past, Dr. Rodchenkov was telling the truth when he provided explanations of the cover-up scheme that he managed.
[35] Following the announcement, Jim Walden, an attorney for Rodchenkov, issued a statement applauding the decision by the IOC that sends "a powerful message that it will not tolerate state-sponsored cheating by any nation".
As the world has seen, Dr. Rodchenkov provided credible and irrefutable evidence of the Russian state-sponsored doping system," Walden said in a statement.
"Russia's consistent denials lack any credibility, and its failure to produce all evidence in its possession only further confirms its high-level complicity.
In an editorial published in the American newspaper USA Today, Rodchenkov expressed his dismay at the decision, calling it "catastrophic".
[37][38] His lawyer, Jim Walden, issued a statement on behalf of Rodchenkov saying that the decision to reinstate Russia is "the greatest treachery against clean athletes in Olympic history".
[40][41][42] Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported that sports minister Pavel Kolobkov said the investigative committee found no evidence to support the state operated a doping system.
[46] According to published reports, the countersuit is likely to seek the names of other individuals who are financing the lawsuit against Rodchenkov as well as information about the assets of Prokhorov.