WITNESS PROTECTION

Doping Whistleblower Told Russian Agents Are Likely Hunting Him in U.S.

“If they get the opportunity, they will take him out.”

Grigory Rodchenkov, the whistleblowing chemist who famously exposed Russia’s systemic doping of Olympic athletes, has been warned by U.S. officials that Russian agents may already be in America seeking to harm the former director of the Moscow Anti-Doping Center. Rodchenkov has previously admitted that he masterminded the state-sponsored cheating plot targeting the 2014 Olympic Games in Vladimir Putin’s home turf of Sochi—the exposure of which led to the International Olympic Committee banning the entire Russian team from February’s Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Yahoo News reports the new, escalated threat was relayed to Rodchenkov the day after the IOC’s unprecedented decision. His lawyer, Jim Walden, says Rodchenkov is in hiding and receiving help from the federal Witness Protection Program in the United States. “It’s an incredibly tense situation,” Walden said. “If they get the opportunity, they will take him out.”