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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE 2020
'Reads like a thriller, or even a spy novel...Walsh keeps you gripped' Rosamund Urwin, Sunday Times'A turbulent but ultimately inspiring tale.
The candour...is rare and gripping' Matt Dickinson, The TimesIt was the story that shocked the world: Russian athletics was revealed to be corrupt from top to bottom, with institutionalised doping used to help the nation's athletes win medals they did not deserve. But the full story of the couple who blew the whistle has never been told - until now. When Russian anti-doping official
Vitaly Stepanov met the young 800m athlete
Yuliya Rusanova, for him it was
love at first sight. Within two months, they were married. But there was a problem – in fact, there were lots of problems. She admitted
she was doping and that everyone else w
Trade Review'An extraordinary and unlikely romance; and
a remarkable tale not just of love but of courage....[Stepanov's] persistence in becoming one of sport’s most remarkable whistleblowers...is staggering given everything set against him. When David Walsh, the chief sports writer of
The Sunday Times, set out to meet the Stepanovs for the first time, he thought he was writing a doping story...but in
The Russian Affair, he has ended up with so much more. The extraordinary, lurching relationship between Vitaly and Yuliya lies at the heart of
a turbulent but ultimately inspiring tale. The
candour with which they have allowed Walsh to tell their story is
rare and gripping.' -- Matt Dickinson * The Times *
'Vitaly Stepanov and Yuliya Stepanova are the doping tester and the drug-taking runner whose
unlikely love for one another gives them the
moral strength to act as whistleblowers.' -- Nick Greenslade * Sunday Times, Sport Books of the Year *
'What makes this account of Russia's state-sponsored doping so
utterly compelling is that at its heart it is a love story about the young couple who blew the lid on the scandal. It is a tale of the implausible, complex and fractious relationship between Vitaly Stepanov and Yuliya Rusanova... The story reads
like a fast-paced thriller... This
masterful work is so much more than a story about drugs, cover-ups and corruption... A
beautiful record of a compelling and emotional journey.' -- James Restall * The Times, Sports Books of the Year *
'More than one review has likened Walsh’s book to
a Cold War thriller, the true story of the committed anti-doping official who falls in love and marries a star 800m runner who turns out an admitted drugs cheat. The book is a journey through
deception, betrayal, infidelity, and an eventual escape from the country.' -- Damien O'Meara * RTE *
