The world of professional athletics is not devoid of corruption. If you consider how much wrongdoing occurs in the various sports leagues and organizations around the world, you can only come to one conclusion – whistleblowers play an integral role in keeping athletic contests of all kinds clean and fair.
A family from Russia had to flee their home and seek refuge in America after they blew the whistle on athletic doping in their homeland. Despite the threats and hardships the family has endured and will likely continue to suffer, they are pleased to learn that an international anti-doping panel has prohibited Russia from competing for four years. This sanction excludes Russia from participating in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, among other things. Vitaly Stepanov says that after numerous threats of punishment and halfhearted attempts at sanctioning the country, an organization has finally moved forward and issued an actual consequence for Russia.
The Stepanovs have been labeled traitors by those in Russia. The family has applied for asylum in the United States and hopes to be able to remain here. Yulia and Vitaly Stepanov do not regret telling the truth about what they saw in Russia. Yulia is an athlete, a distance runner, and Vitaly worked for the Russian Anti-Doping Agency. Together they exposed a state-run doping system in Russia, which the World Anti-Doping Agency has investigated and confirmed. The Stepanovs understood the risks involved in taking a stand against doping, but they chose to move forward despite the harsh criticism that they knew would come along with doing so.
When whistleblowers come forward to expose wrongdoing in athletics like Yulia, and Vitaly Stepanov have done, they score victories for clean athletes everywhere as well as for the integrity of international sporting events like the Olympic Games and other athletic contests and organizations. Numerous problems exist within athletic leagues and organizations, including doping, match-fixing, sexual harassment, and corruption. Sports touch people’s lives in many ways, whether they are athletes, parents of athletes, fans, sponsors, or workers within athletic organizations. Holding athletes and athletic organizations accountable for participating in and promoting clean, safe, fair competition is critical to the good of the sporting world and the good of society.
Many people work within sports organizations, and some of them have access to things the general public is unable to see. Whether it’s the impact of gambling, tax evasion, and questionable accounting practices, or criminal activity that is being ignored or covered up by an athletic organization, your voices are needed to bring those things out into the open so they can be addressed. Sexual harassment and abuse are huge problems in athletics, which is compounded by power imbalances between athletes and the coaches who train them as well as a focus on the bodies of the athletes. Unless whistleblowers expose the inappropriate things that are happening inside of sports, the risk of harm to athletes will persist.
If you have a potential athletic whistleblower claim, a Mississippi whistleblower protection attorney may be able to assist you in pursuing that claim. To learn more, call the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (800) 707-9577. to set up an initial consultation.