President obama has described his successor donald trump as unconventional and warned that he shouldnt be underestimated. On friday mr trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the united states. Now on bbc news, the story of Yulia Stepanova, the russian athlete who exposed the state sponsored doping scandal, in life on the run. Yulia stepanova, russian champion, World Class Athlete turned Whistle Blower. Her contribution to sport and the fight against doping is beyond comparison. Nobody has done more for the anti doping movement. Branded a traitor in her motherland. She and her husband exposed cheating in russia on a colossal scale. Now they live in secret, fearing for their lives. Unlikely to ever return home. Yulia stepanova. The young family seem completely at home in this average american town. Nobody gives them a second glance. This is Yulia Stepanova and vitaly stepanov, An Elite Athlete and an anti doping officer. Their shocking revelations exposed the dirty secrets of russian athletics. Three damning reports commissioned by the world anti doping agency. Much of them based on the testimony of this couple. It found that many athletes have taken Illegal Drugs between 2011 and 2015. For years sports competitions have been hijacked by the russians. Coaches and athletes have been playing on an uneven field. Sports fans and spectators have been deceived. It is time that stops. Yes, stops. For russia there was humiliation and a ban on hundreds of athletes from the rio olympics. But president Vladimir Putin remains defiant. He believes his sportsmen and women have been victims of double standards and political interference. I travelled to the us to meet them, i cant say exactly where. They have spent the last two years staying under the radar. Why did they take such extraordinary risks that force them to lead a life on the run . Thousands of miles from home, they may never return to russia. Yulia stepanova was brought up on the edge of an Industrial Estate in western russia. To begin with, she did not have time for running. In fact, she did not have much time for a childhood at all. This couple worked in a tyre factory and when they were not on the Production Line they were busy tending to their allotment to feed the family. But when she was 13, yulia defied herfather in came here. Athletics became her escape. She began to excel at the hundred metres, winning races she began to excel at the 800 metres, winning races all over the region. But then she got a Chest Infection and spent three months in hospital. Getting back on form was going to be a problem. Her coach, however, had a solution. Testosterone. The banned drug helped her cut a remarkable three seconds off her personal best. In the Russian Sports system there is very little space for personality or individuality. It is like the army. Very soon russian coaches start to use performance enhancing drugs. If you want to strive in sport you need to be inside the system. There are very few opportunities to go up in Russian Sports and not to be inside the system. In many ways, russian athletes are part of the system. Once she was on the national team, she was sent to see a Sports Scientist who knew about doping. Then a chance encounter changed everything. At a race meeting, she met vitaly stepanov, one person in the system who was not prepared to turn a blind eye. He was an idealistic young officer at russias anti doping agency, but he got The Inside Track on his very first date with yulia. When i met yulia and had an honest conversation with her i understood that i was an idiot. We were not there to fix it, we were there to follow the goal of Russian Sports, which is to win medals. The Russian Anti Doping Agency was part of that. A dirty athlete and a crusader for a clean sport, it was an unlikely combination. But two months later they got married. Somehow they stuck together despite frequent rows about yulias doping. He believes in clean sport and is totally committed to it. He sees corruption and he is told, that is how it is and youre not going to change it. He realises that he is probably not, but he faces a choice, do i confront this and try to expose it or do ijust go with the tide . He decided to confront it, to swim against the tide. So vitaly wrote to the Russian Anti Doping Agency about the culture. You cannot make a mistake in the 800 metres, it is fatal. It is the fastest tactical race in the programme. Meanwhile his doping wife went from strength to strength. At the World Championships in south korea, Yulia Stepanova competed alongside some of the finest runners in the sport. But her performance aroused suspicions. I thought she would not be a threat at all. I led the whole way in the semifinal and just at the end i got taken over by two girls, one of whom was yulia. It is the russian showing better form here. I was very shocked to see her in front of me. Meadows may have done enough. We will see how the semifinals pan out. After the event she looked very guilty. I said to my husband that i thought she was cheating, i think she looks very sorry for me. From that moment on she almost could not look me in the eyes. The International Athletics federation gave her a two year suspension. After irregularities were detected in her blood samples. She joined vitaly by writing to the world anti doping agency, but her ten page confession was ignored. She needed more proof. She began secretly taping officials and fellow athletes on her mobile phone. We cannot play the audio from this footage because of ongoing legal appeals. Here, the notorious doctor boasts how his drugs have turbo charged her performance. After the recording was aired on german tv, wada was galvanized into action. The agency said it did not have the legal powers to investigate the allegations before this point. Since then they have commissioned three report into russian doping. For those security the couple left their homeland and now live in the us, leading a Hand To Mouth existence. For safety reasons we agreed that we would not film in their place, they are worried about their security. I can tell you that it is in a low cost housing block in a not very nice part of town, it is very basic. Training alone is Farfrom Ideal for An Elite Athlete. She had hoped to compete under a neutralflag at the rio olympics, but the ioc refused because of her doping past. World sporting agencies have been lukewarm in their support. Some people would prefer that we did not exist and that we did not share what we know. There are corrupt people in those organisations and their goals are not to promote olympic values, their goal is to steal money. The classic Sports Structure and system does not want Whistle Blowers coming for word because it brings bad news Whistle Blowers coming forward because it brings bad news about sport, and that is contrary to what they want and it ultimately hurts the brand. In russia, the Whistle Blower got a cold reception. The kremlin called her ajudas and the press Attacked Heras and the press attacked her as a money grabbing traitor. Online, some even called for her execution. Russian history is full of stories of betrayal. There is a famous one about a schoolboy who informed on his own father to Josef Stalins police. Some are calling Yulia Stepanova a modern day example, for selling out her fellow athletes and her country. Reactions has been a mixture of disbelief, anger and denial. The stepanovs said the Doping Programme was approved at the very top. This is backed up by lab tests, forensic reports, and interviews with other insiders. Despite denials of state involvement, this official laboratory covered up and destroyed hundreds of samples. It lost its accreditation, and has been out of action for more than a year. This moscow lawyer represents several athletes accused of doping. His clients dismiss the evidence, and call Yulia Stepanova a cheating hypocrite. Shes not a hero, because theres nothing brave in it. I think the main motive for her, as for any other athlete who is involved in doping, is a financial motive. But a journalist who has been investigating doping for decades, and exposed the cyclist lance armstrong, believes people have misunderstood and undervalued her, in russia and in the wider world. Yulia stepanova did this in return for no motive. Some people have said that shes a doper. But those people are showing a lack of empathy for where she has come from and what she has done. If they bothered to look closely at her story, they would have nothing but unqualified admiration for her. Nobody has done more for the anti doping movement. No Whistle Blower comes within a million miles. It is an acknowledgement through gritted teeth. President putin says his revamped anti Doping Programme will be in place early in 2017. The parliament has passed a new law which could send drug pushing coaches to jail. Many Doping Control Officers have been sacked, and other reforms are promised. And yet the pair who forced the nation to confront this deep rooted corruption are still seen as enemies of the state. We betrayed the russian doping system, and i am completely fine with it. Yulia hopes to compete in the World Championships in london next summer. I have never been in new york, and i have never eaten the snake. In a country she does not know, with a language she does not speak, her life has been turned upside down. But she has few regrets about the turbulence she has brought to world athletics. She has exposed an ugly truth that had gone unspoken for years. No matter what her detractors say, Yulia Stepanova will surely be known as one of the greatest Whistle Blowers in the history of sport. Good evening. My hope you have enjoyed the weekend. It has been drabfor many enjoyed the weekend. It has been drab for many others. Bits and pieces of rain around and i cannot promise too much in the way of sunshine over the next few days. Many of us overcast. Satellite picture has been producing wet weather across central and eastern parts of england. That will fade away but still some trips and drabs left behind as we head into the evening. Fog on the high ground. Rain pushing out of scotland down to the spine of england and wales. A lot of cloud cover and for most of us, it is a good thing because it will prevent many from temperatures falling to low. Further east across the south east and east anglia, not farfrom east across the south east and east anglia, not far from freezing. East across the south east and east anglia, not farfrom freezing. Fog patches as well. Rain through the medals and two Northern England clipping the east of scotland. Dry out west. Across the Western Areas it will be mild. As we kick off the day, not much sunshine. There will be some across east anglia and the south east. A reasonable day to come here. To the central areas, it stays drab with further dampness from time to time. Quite a contrast in temperatures. For most places it will be mild but the central england, it will be chilly. For the rest, more cloud and dribs and drabs through Northern England but milder further north and west you go across the uk. This is a pattern we will become accustomed to over the next few days. More northern and western pa rt few days. More northern and western part of the uk will be cloudy but will be mild with temperatures getting up towards double figures. Pretty good for the time of year. Further south and east, it will be colder. Best of the sunshine across east anglia and the south east as we go through the early part of the week. It is under the clear skies where we are likely to see some frost and sharp frost potentially across the far south east. Seems like this. It says nothing compared with conditions elsewhere across continental europe. Another surge of gold are working across the south west. All the way down towards iberia. So back in the uk living a relatively charmed life. All the latest on the forecast where you are 01 latest on the forecast where you are orfurther latest on the forecast where you are or further afield can be latest on the forecast where you are Orfurther Afield can be found on the bbc weather site. The headlines at five p. M. The labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn has accused the chancellor of risking a trade war with the rest of the eu over brexit. He appears to be making a threat to the European Team unity saying if you dont give us what we want, we will become the sort of strange entity on the shores of europe. Senior doctors are warning Cancer Operations in some hospitals are being cancelled because of a shortage of beds. The questions i was asking, you have cancelled this operation, how long have i got before i will not have the chance to have an operation to get this removed . Also, donald trump is warmed by the head of the cia he needs to watch what he says. And france urges him not to move the us embassy in israel to jerusalem. France urges him not to move the us embassy in israel tojerusalem. It
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