How Russia’s doping program went undetected at the Sochi Olympics but was eventually uncovered

Mattjias Schrader/AP

After months upon months of investigation, the International Olympic Committee made a bombshell announcement: Russia has been banned from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The announcement came on the heels of the Schmid Report, which confirmed a large-scale, state-sponsored doping program designed to give Russian athletes an unfair edge. The full extent of the Russian Olympic Committee and government’s joint effort to skirt the rules may never be known, but the information we do have still points to an unprecedented operation.

Below, find out more about Russia’s quest to dominate the Olympics through doping, as well as the lengthy investigation that followed.