SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP by way of Getty
Studies emerged from the Beijing Winter Olympics at the moment that a Russian determine skater has failed a drug check, doubtlessly handing the gold medal gained by the Russians within the determine skating crew occasion to their U.S. rivals.
Particulars of what the Worldwide Olympic Committee referred to as an “rising concern” have been scant, however an Olympic information web site stated it concerned a pre-competition doping check. USA In the present day stated its supply additionally confirmed a constructive check involving an unnamed Russian competitor.
If any Russian skater have been discovered to be doping, it might represent a serious blow to the IOC after its choice to permit Russian athletes to compete regardless of a worldwide ban on the Russian nationwide crew due to systematic state-sponsored doping.
It might additionally see the USA handed a much-needed gold medal.
The Russians wrapped up their victory within the crew occasion Monday, with the 15-year-old skating sensation Kamila Valieva changing into the primary girl to land quadruple jumps within the Olympic free program.
After taking to the ice for the casual “flower ceremony,” they have been meant to be formally awarded their gold medals that evening, with Nathan Chen and the Individuals to get silver medals and the Japanese crew bronze. However the ceremony was postponed for twenty-four hours with none clarification—after which postponed once more, indefinitely, on Tuesday evening.
The thriller deepened Wednesday when 4 of the Russian crew skaters didn't flip up for a scheduled apply session on the Beijing skating venue. Valieva was amongst these lacking, as was the European champion Mark Kondratiuk, who's a robust medal contender in Thursday’s males’s lengthy program.
Kondratiuk’s coach, Svetlana Sokolovskaya, was quoted on the Telegram app saying: “He had a break day so he determined to present coaching a miss. The whole lot is okay. We're prepared for the free skating.”
Requested in regards to the delayed medal ceremony at a briefing at the moment, IOC spokesman Mark Adams described it as an “rising concern” that was nonetheless being sorted out. “A scenario arose at brief discover that requires authorized session,” Adams stated. “You possibly can guess your backside greenback we're doing every little thing that this case may be resolved as quickly as attainable. I can not offer you any extra particulars however we are going to do our utmost.”
The Olympic information web site Contained in the Video games, reporting on what it referred to as a “Russian doping thriller,” stated it understood “a scenario involving Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the worldwide doping authorities” was behind the delay.
“It's believed the issue refers to a medicine check performed earlier than Beijing 2022,” it added.
In a later report, citing an nameless supply “with information of the scenario,” USA In the present day stated the ceremony had been “delayed by the constructive drug check of 1 member of the gold-medal-winning Russian crew.”
The skaters, and different Russian athletes in Beijing, are competing in these Video games not because the Russian crew, with the Russian flag and anthem, however below the identify and (strikingly comparable) colours of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The messy compromise was meant to permit the athletes themselves to compete whereas punishing Russia. Nevertheless it appears to have solely spurred the entire crew to higher success: The ROC is main the medal tally in Beijing, with 10 medals in complete—though it solely has two golds, together with the one nonetheless to be formally handed to the determine skating crew.