Whistleblower nearly aborted efforts to expose Russian doping

Whistleblower Vitaly Stepanov told Reuters on Monday he nearly aborted his plan to expose widespread doping in Russian athletics when the World Anti-Doping Agency was slow to act on information he provided them.

Stepanov, who previously worked for Russia´s anti-doping agency, said he second-guessed himself countless times during a three-year stretch where information he fed to WADA did not lead to any action.

"I was falling asleep and telling myself I am an idiot," Stepanov told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"That was probably my thought a lot of times. Especially after each major competition that was my thought.

What am I doing?"Stepanov, who had over 200 email exchanges with WADA starting in 2010, provided evidence for a German television documentary called "Top Secret Doping: How Russia Makes Its Winners" that led to the establishment of a WADA independent commission last year.