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and you never know6♪ ♪ what to hide and what to show no ♪ ♪ you're holding on for life holding on for life you're holding on for love ♪ ♪ you're holding on for life holding on for life you're holding on for love ♪ ♪

[ applause ] >> tonight on "nightline," how olympic greed became more important than olympic gold. >> it's the best choice. >> told by the whistleblower now with a price on his head. an abc news exclusive investigation. >> those are the world, yes. you'll be drowned in blood. >> yes. >> we travel to russia just days before the start of the olympics, uncover the unlikely connection between an alleged drug kingpin, corrupt politicians, and the most expensive games ever. skyfall. what you're seeing now is an

experienced sky diver doing a routine jump until this -- the clock is ticking with 90 seconds tops between life and death. an amazing free fall and an even more spectacular save. and water baby. nothing can get between this woman and her waives. not even a baby bump. she surfed throughout her entire pregnancy. but how?

a. >> good evening, and thanks for joining us. with the winter olympics fast approa approaching, there is a substantial potential for a terrorist attack at the sochi

games. so how did a russian beach side resort become the site for the games in the first place? tonight a whistleblower with a price on his head makes startling allegation about shady deals to abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross in our exclusive "olympic gold olympic greed." >> reporter: this year's winter olympics could have been held in the austrian alps with its storied villages. >> or in this popular ski resort, a snowboarder's paradise. instead, the international olympic committee chose a subtropical russian city on the black sea, famed for its summer beaches, but one of the few places in russia that rarely gets snow. and that's the least of this city's problems. while sochi is known for its palm tree ins stoefd snow, there's a blizzard of allegations of unsavory ties to

organized crime figures, official corruption and islamic terrorists who have threatened to attack here. all of which raises the question why the international olympic committee chose sochi in the first place. has olympic greed become more important than olympic gold? to find out, we met some of the few russian journalists brave enough to ask those questions. including sergei kanov who always has a hidden camera in his bag in case he is attacked again, as he has been twice before. >> one put a slip knot over my net and tried to strangle me. >> and a russian businessman who went into hiding after allegations of corruption that led to threats on his life. >> you will be drowned in blood. >> reporter: and we heard from the mayor of sochi who tried to laugh off our questions about corruption and mafia tie with an aide offcamera telling him not to answer.

>> what are you talking about? never. sochi could never be a mafia city because this is a city where people come to relax. >> reporter: the decision by the international olympic committee to choose sochi was made seven years ago. there's no doubt that the personal appearance by russian president vladimir putin was a big factor. he spoke in english, something he almost never does in public. >> sochi's olympic bid has already brought its benefits. >> reporter: but that's not the whole story of why putin and the russians won the day. >> awarded to the city of sochi. >> reporter: an abc news investigation found that behind the scenes, this mystery man was directly involved in helping russia get the needed olympic votes. he says he's just a businessman, a vice president of what's known as the olympic council of asia. he has been publicly thanked by the russian olympic committee

for his single minded work in delivering the votes of some asian countries for sochi, without which it would have been hard for sochi to count on the victory. but we discovered he is much more than just another businessman with friends on the olympic committee. >> he is one of the four or five most important people in the heroin trade in the world. he's absolutely a major and very dangerous gangster. >> reporter: craig murray, the former british ambassador to uzbekistan says he has a track record of payoffs to government officials to make sure his drugs move across asia and russia into europe without interference. >> a lot of it ends up in the united kingdom. a lot is used for the european market. a lot is used in the russian market. st. petersburg itself has a

heroin problem. >> the u.s. described him as a key member of a huge russian asian syndicate with drugs in the countries of central asia that travel all the way to europe. yet that's the very person the russians admit they used to help them get the votes for winter olympics in sochi. >>. >> translator: if we're talking about these links between the criminals and the kremlin, you don't have to go far. >> reporter: this russian investigative reporter showed us photos with rahimov with the mafia boss of sochi before he was killed last yeern was told he would not help russia unless there was something in it for him and his close-knit criminal network, which is known in russia as the thieves in law. >> translator: there was obviously some sort of agreement between the kremlin and the thiefs in law. and he showed us this photo of rahimov a at a russian olympic children events. his ties to heroin trafficking apparently not a problem. >> translator: at that time, he

was known as a drug trafficker and there was a warrant for his arre arrest in uzbekistan. >> reporter: rahimov confirmed to abc news his role in helping russia get the olympics. quote, he talked to them, the translator said. he convinced them because of his good relations with these people. he has great influence. he added it was not necessary to pay any money or bribes. >> the olympic committee should be embarrassed by this, but let's face it, this is one of -- it's a terrible scandal. but it's one of a large number of scandals that have dogged sbefr national sports for many years. and it seems impossible to embarrass these people into behaving well. >> reporter: a cloud of crime and corruption has lingered over the sochi olympics ever since. as russia went on an estimated $50 billion to $60 billion spending spree for winter games

with dozens of facilities and buildings springing up all across the area as seen in these time lapse promotional videos. critics say huge amounts of that money ended up in the bank accounts of well connected russians. >> everyone knows this is the most criminal case in the history of russia. >> a former russian deputy prime minister and putin political rival has produced what he says is documented evidence of ram pid criminality in the most expensive olympics ever. >> they stole $30 billion all together. >> they stole $30 billion? >> yeah. it's about half of the cost. >> he points to the olympic stadium, three times the cost of any previous stadium anywhere in the world. the $9 billion highway and railroad that had to be used to link the resort cities to where the snow is, 30 miles away. >> by most accounts, this may be

the world's most expensive highway per mile. about $300 million a mile. it's the corruption, not the concrete, that makes it so very expensive. >> for example, american program to fly to mars is three times cheaper. did you know that? this is $3 billion. >> reporter: and then there's the olympic ski jump, two years behind schedule and more than six times over budget. this remarkable video shows president putin's reaction as aides try to dodge around the question of who is responsible. it was a top russian olympic official. >> who was that? >> translator: what's he doing now? >> translator: he's managing resorts in the northern caucuses. >> reporter: putin is not satisfied. >> reporter: what else? >> reporter: i don't know what else he has been doing. >> reporter: now he asks the other aide. >> translator: he's the vice president of the olympic

committee. so the vice president of the national olympic committee is taking care of such a large construction. >> reporter: putin's steely reaction says it all. the olympic vice president has now fled the country, accused of embezzling several million dollars, a charge he denies. despite all that, in an interview with george stephanopolous, president putin said no one had presented any evidence of a serious corruption problem. >> we have not seen any big large scale instances of corruption in connection with the implementation of the sochi olympics project. >> and we heard the same thing from the mayor of sochi who gave us a 45-minute walking tour of all the improvements he says the city is making. telling us reports of corruption are just journalists' fantasies. so you don't think this is going to be a corrupt olympics? >> translator: i can say with certainty there were no corruption schemes during the

construction of the olympic facilities. >> reporter: but the evidence of corruption and criminality is overwhelming right up to the president in moscow, to the officials who control construction contracts in sochi 37. >> morisov now in exile in britain after going public with his allegations said he did business with tough officials in the president's office. >> you have to pay, there is no way out. >> he says he used pieces of luggage like this to deliver tens of millions of ruble, what he called a corruption tax, to a key official. >> stuffed with rubles? >> stuffed with rubles. and i've given this a few times. >> reporter: who got all that money? >> you know that this is not my money. this is not money for me. i am to bring it upstairs. >> reporter: he said a prosecutor's report concluded the official personally seched

the bribe in the form of a large sum of money but no charges were brought. and now morisov says he is a marked man, even living in an undisclosed location far away from russia in england. t fearing the threats against him will be carried out once the olympics are over. what were the threats against you? >> you will be drowned in blood. you will wash with blood. >> those are the -- >> reporter: you'll be drowned in blood. the international olympic committee says all the allegations in our report should be handled by the host government, president putin's russia. and as putin told abc news, the russians have already determined there is no serious corruption problem surrounding the olympics. see no evil, hear no evil. cynthia? >> our thanks to you, brian, for that stunning report. next, this sky diver was thousands of feet up in the air when something went horribly wrong. and he began plummeting towards certain doom. so what happened next?

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>> humans have long had a passion to fly. perhaps that's what fuels the booming business of sky diving. but even seasoned divers can make mistakes. and then 90 seconds might mean the difference between life and death. you're about to see what happens when a person's fate is literally up in the air. my co-anchor dan harris with the times of crisis and the

spectacular saves. >> reporter: the video starts with a group of sky divers climbing on to the outside of a plane preparing to jump. the small camera recording this video is attached to the helmet of an experienced 25-year-old sky diver named james lee. he's done this thousands of times. but never before has this happened to him. seconds after he leap, a freak accident. one of his fellow diver's legs hits lee in the back of the head knocking him out. the camera goes wobbly as lee tumbles unconscious from 12,500 feet, hurdling at an approximate speed of 120 miles an hour towards certain death. look at what happens next, though. about 30 seconds into the dive, his friends notice there's something wrong with him. they approach giving him hand signals to check if he's okay. seeing that he's not, they

attempt to reorient his body to the correct position so they can deploy his chute. but they only have maybe 60 to 90 seconds to do so before it's too late. at the 58-second america, bingo, it works. you can hear the hiss of the air relent as lee's descent lows down. >> it's pretty incredible when someone is unconscious and tumbling, it's virtually impossible to catch them. >> reporter: this is not the first sky diving mishap to make news of late. this week, a 16-year-old making a hard landing in oklahoma after her chute failed. >> just had a first-time jumper get hurt out here. >> is she okay? >> no, she's not. she's on the ground moaning. >> reporter: her father saying it's a miracle she survived. >> she jumped out of a plane but she fell in god's hands. in 2005, a pregnant woman

crashing down after her chute malfunctioned. she also survived. and then there was the case of laverne everett. >> i just turned 80. >> happy birthday. >> sky diving. her safety harness came loose. she dangles, holding on to her instructor for dear life. she said it's a blessing her shirt blew up, blocking her view. >> i just had a peek hole of light to shine through. i didn't get to see anything. >> back now to james lee as he drifts towards earth in the english country side he regains consciousness with no memory of the incident. when he lands, you can hear him exhale. he goes to the hospital, is treated and released and tonight is vowing that this incident, which happened in july, but is only coming to light now, will not stop him from diving again. for "nightline," this is dan

harris in new york. >> or we can just stay on the ground. up next, pope francis continues to make waves and headlines. car insurance rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. [ rattling ] that's one smart board. what else does it do -- reverse gravity? [ chuckles ] split atoms? [ whoooosh! ] hey, how is that atom-splitting thing going? [ rattling ] [ electronic whistling ] oh! [ zap! ] a smarter way to shop around. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

the unexpected sight that caught our attention on tonight's "feed frenzy." pope francis is a man of many hats and titles. he was named "time" magazine's person of the year. and he's a cover star on the new rolling stone. and now the man known as the people's pope can add superhero to the list. superpope graffiti has been

popping up around the vatican showing the wipe caped crusader in flight. and if you've ever smelled something bad coming from next door, you probably wouldn't imagine it could be this -- up to 350 pythons discovered in squalor conditions inside the home of an elementary schoolteacher. after neighbors complained of a foul smell. workers dressed in protective gear discovered the snakes and rats and mice. now he's accused of cruelty to animals and maybe more. and we wanted to share something a little more uplifting. this avid surfer wouldn't let a little thing like pregnancy stop her from hitting the waves and giving her passion new life. she documented her expanding bump through the ninth month on the water. she said she was careful to stay safe and healthy and that the growing baby could fee