Russian Official Details Alleged Doping Program at 2014 Sochi Olympics

More than two years after Russia dominated the medal count on its home soil in Sochi during the 2014 Winter Olympics, a Russian director has admitted to spearheading an alleged doping scandal.

According to Rebecca R. Ruiz and Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times, former Russian anti-doping laboratory director Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov revealed details surrounding an elaborate scheme that allegedly involved at least 15 medal-winning athletes, including 14 members of the cross-country skiing team and two bobsledding gold medalists.

However, a spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin labeled claims of a state-organized cover-up as "a turncoat's libel," per the Associated Press.

"These allegations look absolutely groundless," Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said Friday, per Dmitry Solovyov and Andrew Osborn of Reuters. "They are not substantiated by any trustworthy data, they are not backed by any sort of documents. All this simply looks like slander by a turncoat."

Rodchenkov said he created cocktails containing three banned substances and liquor that he urged the athletes to consume.

The former director also said he and other anti-doping experts replaced tainted urine with previously extracted clean urine in the dead of night to avoid positive tests. Rodchenkov said everything was done at the behest of the Russian government, and he described the well-oiled nature of the operation: "We were fully equipped, knowledgeable, experienced and perfectly prepared for Sochi like never before. It was working like a Swiss watch."

Russia won the most overall medals in Sochi, beating out the United States 33-28. It also ranked first in gold medals won by a 13-11 margin over Norway.

While Rodchenkov's accounts were detailed, Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko called them "a continuation of the information attack on Russian sport," per Ruiz and Schwirtz.

Russia has been in hot water with regard to doping claims for some time, as the IAAF banned its track and field teams in 2015.

Despite mounting suspicion of doping in Russian sports, Rodchenkov's description of the events has not been verified by other sources.

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