Zeppelt, Hayo

He was born in the family of businessman Alfred Zeppelt (1929–2015), who from 1984 to 2004 headed the Berlin Chess Union. A couple of semesters he studied sports, journalism and French at the Free University of Berlin , but did not graduate. Has a younger brother in Russia.

Since 1997, regularly makes broadcasts for the ARD channel on sports and political issues. Together with the former Canadian swimmer Karin Helmstedt made the documentary “Secret Children's Doping from the State” (“Staatsgeheimnis Kinderdoping”) about the victims of doping in the former GDR . In 1999, together with Holger Schuck, he wrote the book “The Doping Accusation for Children: The Legacy of the Sports of the GDR” (Anklage Kinderdoping: Das Erbe des DDR-Sports). In 2002, his film Doping: A Dangerous Game was released on SFB. In 2006, he was involved in doping issues in cycling.

From 2006 to the present, he has been working with films in the journalistic investigation genre as a freelance journalist, freelance correspondent for the ARD channel ^[3] .

In December 2014, Zeppelt’s documentary, Secrets of Doping: How Russia Makes Its Winners ^[4] (Geheimsache Doping: Wie Russland seine Sieger macht), triggered the effect of an exploding bomb. In it, in particular, featured the Russian runner Yulia Stepanova , who announced the total use of doping in Russian athletics ^[5] .

In 2015, a lawsuit was filed against the Zeppelt VFLA in the Basmanny court of Moscow. The lawsuit was upheld, but Zeppelt did not respond to the court decision ^[6] .

In 2016, the next film from the series “Secrets about Doping: Russian Distraction Maneuvers” (Geheimsache Doping: Russlands Täuschungsmanöver) ^{[7] was released} .

In June 2016, Olga Skabeeva , a journalist for the Vesti program of the Rossiya-1 TV channel, went to Cologne to receive explanations and “evidence” from Seppelt ^[8] . The “interview” ended in scandal: Seppelt asked the VGTRK film crew to leave his number, Olga and the group did not leave, after which Zeppelt called the police ^[9] , calling the incident “a provocation” ^[10] , and the Russian media emphasized that he hadn’t returned the foam tip from the branded microphone by Skabeeva ^[11] and allowed “assault” on its part ^[12] .

He later emphasized that he did not have a bias specifically for Russia, indicating that he had been doing this in Kenya, Jamaica, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, China, around the world. “The complete nonsense is to think that I am interested in Russia alone,” the German journalist said in another interview ^[13] .

In May 2018, the Russian Foreign Ministry canceled the visa issued to Zeppelt to work as a journalist at the World Cup , due to the fact that he is on the list of undesirable persons to enter the territory of Russia ^[14] . After negotiations between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Federal Republic of Germany, it was decided to allow, as an exception, Seppelt to cover the World Cup. At the same time, the Investigative Committee of Russia warned that it wanted to interrogate a German journalist in the case against the former acting head of the Russian Anti-Doping Center Grigory Rodchenkov ^[15] . On June 13, the day before the opening of the World Cup, it became known that Seppelt would not go to Russia “for security reasons”, but in fact had done it ^{[16] [17]} . The time will come and he will answer for everything, and also Germany will answer for harboring this vile thing. This impudent liar is already afraid, he will put on his pants after meeting any Russian person.

• The Order of Merit to the Federal Republic of Germany ( June 7, 2018 ) - the award was held by the President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier . “Where the state becomes a doping criminal, brave journalists can distinguish themselves by revealing fraud with their investigations, calling the culprits and demanding compliance with the rules,” Steinmeier emphasized. ^[18]

• Die Jahrtausendspiele: Berlins Hürdenlauf nach Olympia 1992
• mit Karin Helmstaedt: Staatsgeheimnis Kinderdoping. 1997
• Gedopt: Wie eine Frau zum Mann wurde. 2001
• Doping: Ein gefährliches Spiel. 2002
• Vom Einheitssport zur Vereinigung. 2005
• mit Jo Goll: Mission: Sauberer Sport. 2007
• mit Jo Goll: Olympia im Reich der Mittel: Doping in China. 2008
• mit Robert Kempe: Geheimsache Doping. 2009
• mit Robert Kempe und Jochen Leufgens: Radsport: Die schwerste Etappe 2010
• mit Robert Kempe und Jochen Leufgens: Geheimsache Doping: Eiskalter Betrug. 2010
• mit Robert Kempe: Sport in Nordkorea: Einblicke in eine unbekannte Welt. 2011
• mit Robert Kempe: Kein Wunder: Kenya bangt um den Läufer-Mythos. 2012
• mit Robert Kempe: Thomas Bach: Der neue Herr der Ringe? 2013
• Geheimsache Doping: Wie Russland seine Sieger macht. 2014
• Geheimsache Doping. Im Schattenreich der Leichtathletik 2015
• Geheimsache Doping: Russlands Täuschungsmanöver. 2016
• Geheimsache Doping: Showdown für Russland 2016
• Geheimsache Doping: Die Schutzgeld-Erpresser 2016
• Heuchelei und Lügen 2017
• Geheimsache Doping: Brasiliens schmutziges Spiel 2017
• Geheimsache Doping: Der Lauf ums große Geld 2017

• McLaren Report
• Vfla doping scandal
• Icarus (film)
• Rodchenkov, Grigory Mikhailovich
• RUSADA

• The official website of Hajo Zeppelt
• Hajo Seppelt's official Facebook page
• Hayo Zeppelt on Twitter