By Maria Tsvetkova and Karin Strohecker
MOSCOW/LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The sportswoman who blew
the whistle on doping in Russian athletics is in hiding abroad,
pursued by a barrage of criticism from former colleagues and
officials at home who accuse her of betraying her country.
Yulia Stepanova, an international runner who was herself
suspended for doping offences, secretly recorded Russian coaches
and athletes over almost two years describing how they used
performance-enhancing drugs.
The 29-year-old's evidence formed a major part of an
investigation that led to Russian athletes being suspended from
international competition this month, triggering the deepest
crisis in Russian sport since the boycott-hit 1980 Moscow
Olympics.
While her role has been described as courageous by
supporters abroad, at home she has faced accusations of being a
liar, and of betraying her countrymen for money or in exchange
for a residence permit in a wealthy country.
"She's a traitor," said Vladimir Kazarin, Stepanova's former
coach who was named as someone involved in doping in the
investigation report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA). He denies the allegations.
"She betrayed me, betrayed her homeland. That's why she's a
traitor," Kazarin told Russia's NTV broadcaster.
Before her accusations were made public last year, Stepanova
and her husband - who have a child of pre-school age - left
Russia and moved to Germany where they set up home but kept a
low profile.
Christoph Kopp, the head of the local athletics club who
helped them settle in Germany, said they kept their details out
of public records so they could not be traced, and wrote the
family name "Mueller" - one of Germany's most common names - on
the doorbell of their home.
"We handled the situation very, very carefully when they
came to Germany," said Kopp, chairman of the LAC Olympia 88
Berlin athletics club.
He said Stepanova and her husband were on the move again in
September this year, leaving Germany for North America. Someone
connected to WADA had arranged for them to make the move, he
said.
WADA did not respond to questions about Stepanova.
Attempts by Reuters to track down Stepanova and her husband
Vitaly, through colleagues, acquaintances and international
sports officials were unsuccessful. It is not known where they
are living.
The last publicly-available record of her whereabouts was
from the German capital, where she was listed as having competed
for LAC Olympia 88 Berlin in a 1,500 metres race in July this
year.
NEGATIVE REACTION
Russia's sports authorities have disputed some of the WADA
report's allegations about doping, but they say they will do
everything necessary to get their athletes back into
international competition, including replacing the leadership of
their athletics federation and revamping the national
anti-doping agency.
The attitude in Russia to Stepanova typifies how many in the
country view the scandal: they acknowledge there is a problem,
but also believe it has been blown out of proportion by Russia's
rivals for political reasons.
Stepanova is a middle-distance runner who competed for
Russia until she was herself handed a two-year suspension on
suspicion of doping in 2013.
She and her husband, a former Russian anti-doping agency
official, first took on the role of whistleblowers last year,
when they featured as witnesses in a TV documentary that alleged
widespread corruption and drug-taking in Russian athletics.
Hajo Seppelt, the journalist who made the documentary for
German TV station ARD, told Reuters the couple - anticipating
negative reaction - left Russia for Germany last year, before
the programme was broadcast.
"They knew when this story comes out they may have a lot of
problems in Russia," said Seppelt, whose documentary prompted
WADA to commission its investigation.
"They thought that to talk about doping in Russian sports,
to talk about wrongdoing in Russian sport, is always not a good
idea."
The prevailing attitude in Russia, he said, was: "It's just
a question of honour. You don't do that to your country, you
don't blame it."
Seppelt said he did not know where Stepanova was now and,
that if he did, he would not disclose the information.
Russian sports officials said they did not know anything
about any threats against Stepanova or her husband that could
have compelled them to seek refuge abroad.
"They need to get citizenship (in a foreign country) and
that's why they made this up. We don't threaten them," said Anna
Glushenko, a Russian Athletics Federation spokeswoman.
A spokeswoman for the Russian Sport Ministry said Stepanova
had not contacted them to report any threats.
BANNED SUBSTANCES
Stepanova is the star witness for the investigation into
Russian athletics doping. Her name is mentioned 141 times in the
text of the 323-page report produced by investigators.
Her evidence included text messages, emails, testimony she
gave in interviews to investigators as well as secret video and
audio tapes she recorded between February 2013 and November 2014
in locations ranging from a hotel in Kyrgyzstan to Moscow's
Kazansky railway station and the athletics federation offices.
The report cites Stepanova's testimony as evidence for
doping allegations against several senior Russian athletics
federation coaches, and some athletes.
In one episode described in the report, Stepanova secretly
videoed a conversation between herself and Kazarin about her
training regime.
"That is why we only have oxandrolone and primobolan and, at
some point in the early stages, just a little, you can do a few
ampoules of EPO, of course. But make sure there are no checks at
the time, nothing like that," Kazarin said, according to a
transcript.
Oxandrolone and EPO, also known as erythropoietin, are
listed as banned substances under WADA rules.
In the same video, the report says, Kazarin can be seen
handing over 15 tablets to Stepanova, and advises her on when to
take them. They were later tested in a laboratory and found to
be oxandrolone, according to the report.
MERCANTILE REASONS
Asked by Reuters what he thought about the role Stepanova
played in the report, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said:
"I would like to hope that she had a genuine desire to restore
health to the sport, if that is what is really motivating her."
"But if she is driven by some kind of mercantile things,
money, or a residence permit in some country, Canada for
example, then I don't know."
He said if she genuinely wished to tackle doping in her
sport, she could have approached a Russian federation official
with her concerns. "There was no need to make a film," he said.
Tatiana Lebedeva, vice-president of the Russian Athletics
Federation, said Stepanova and her husband were trying to make
themselves look like victims.
"When they said they were going to be threatened they were
making this up in advance. And they ended up leaving. There was
nothing, no threats," said Lebedeva.
"Of course (innocent) athletes who now suffer wouldn't say
thank you to them. They weren't involved in anything but they
were accused of it by an athlete who had used doping. When she
was caught she said that all of them did it."
Seppelt, the documentary-maker who worked with Stepanova and
her husband, said they were motivated by a genuine desire to
prove that there was wrongdoing inside Russian athletics.
"For me they were the most impressive whistleblowers in the
history of sport. The most impressive. We didn't pay them
anything. We didn't ask them to do so. They wanted to prove it."
Since the release of the WADA-commissioned report and the
uproar that followed, the couple have made only one public
comment, issued last Saturday via the same German TV station
that produced the documentary.
"We are at a safe place," they said.
"That truth in sports matters makes us feel glad. We don't
regret anything we have done."