In 2015, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revoked the accreditation of the Russian anti-doping center in response to the doping scandal in Russian sports, after which its director Grigoriy Rodchenkov resigned and left for the USA under dramatic circumstances. In exile, he provided testimony about a state-sponsored doping program. Allegedly, at the behest of the Ministry of Sports, he created a difficult-to-detect mixture of anabolic steroids and participated in a urine sample swapping system that significantly contributed to the medal gains of Russian athletes on the international stage—especially at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Rodchenkov is accused of several crimes in Russia and is hiding in the USA, where he is placed in a witness protection program. The book openly tells the entire story of Russian doping, which was also captured in the Oscar-winning documentary Icarus by Bryan Fogel and continues to fascinate and shock the world. It also maps the author's childhood growing up behind the Iron Curtain, his first encounter with doping as a twenty-two-year-old student-athlete at Moscow State University, and his subsequent career in the anti-doping laboratory in Moscow. This gripping publication reveals a fraudulent system full of amorality and shameless audacity.
