Russia and dope. Features of National Intolerance – Olympic Games News

Russian sport is just recovering from the doping scandals that have erupted all over the world, largely as a result of the country's anti-doping system. The benefit has now managed to reform.

However, it was even more important and difficult to change the attitude towards doping within society itself. In the first place, sport, where many ridiculous and unprofessional mistakes are still tolerated.

"We must strive to ensure that this is a zero application, we must strive to achieve it," Vladimir Putin told a question in December about doping scandals in Russian sport. press conferences. And now, the New Year has arrived and, by the end of January, the news has arrived: two athletes are disqualified for a period of four years for using a banned drug. The names of the athletes will say nothing to the general public, but the drug for which they were punished is yes. Alexey Kiselev and Vasily Minaev were caught in Meldoni. The first is 18 years old, the second is 35, but neither has apparently heard that this drug has long been on the banned list.

Paradoxical stories can not imagine. Although, it seems, after the events of three years ago, almost all Russians who regularly follow the information know the meldonium and the preparation that contains it. An athlete for sure. Especially after a no less noisy story with the discovery of meldonium at the Alexander Alexander Krushelnitsky curling at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

But no, even national doctors can keep abad of modern trends. What history has shown with three young Russian handball players to whom the doctor has prescribed meldonium. It was discovered at home during the 2017 World Junior Championship.

By the way, the history of the handball players is unique in that it has managed to shed light on the truth and punish the main person responsible for the disqualification of the team doctor. However, the main suppliers of illicit drugs often remain without sanctions.

The latest striking example is the story of biathlete Alexander Loginov, who recently served a three-year suspension and is now part of the world's biathlon elite. It is only in this elite, he is considered an excluded, and all because of history of doping. After all, they found in his test not only a prohibited drug, but erythropoietin, which indicates the athlete's conscious decision to deceive his rivals – he can only enter the body by injection.

Olympic champions Martin Fourcade and Sebastian Samuelsson commented on the return of Loginov in the sport and asked him to apologize for trying to deceive them. In addition, the biathletes wanted to know the circumstances of the story, but the Russian athlete gathered like water in the mouth. The only thing he told about these events was a recording on a social network page with the words "I was already in a bad situation for something that I did not do . "

If the Russian did not use doping, then who is responsible for the presence of erythropoietin in his samples? On this subject, he has not said anything yet. However, the desire of foreign biathletes to discover the reasons that drove Loginov to deceive fans in the Russian environment was seen as an attempt to psychologically crush a competitor.

They defended Loginov, asked to protect themselves from attacks, only the main issue of this flood of powerful words remained unanswered. Namely: who is responsible for the fact that erythropoietin has been detected in biathlon samples and where is it responsible if the athlete himself does not recognize his guilt. And above all – why he does not explain anything on this subject.

In general, athletes with a history of doping in Russia often have the image of martyrs. Despite the facts pointing to their guilt, they still find support from an important part of society. Everyone is guilty, but there is no specific name. And among the favorite excuses – the machinations of foreign competitors and the political situation. Of course, in recent trials, such moments have occurred. However, if it's hundreds of anti-doping rule violations, it's foolish to write everything as a policy.

This is why paradoxical situations are often formed. Thus, disqualified for doping, the bobsleeter Dmitry Trunenkov, until last year, led by Yunarmia, having suffered the same punishment, Alexei Lovchev, becomes advisor to the governor, and the boxer Apti Aukhadov, who has not yet served the penalty of suspension, participates in the torch of the Universiade in Krasnoyarsk. And there are still many examples of this kind.

It is clear that legally, they do not violate anything, but such behavior is contrary to ethical standards. Yes, we can badume that the athlete was a victim, that he had been disqualified unfairly, but the fact remains that there were grounds for punishment, as well as opportunities to challenge him. And if we follow the rules and standards of behavior established in the world, this will be perceived as a challenge in a normal society.

In this perspective, the history of the bobsleist Alexander Zubkov is particularly comical. Flag bearer of the Russian national team at the Sochi Games, two-time winner of these Games, he was finally deprived of awards and honor. The fault lies in the punishment for breaking the anti-doping rules, which he could not dispute. Yes, its bases are more than doubtful: scratches on the test tubes and high concentration of salt in the sample. In this case, the athlete could not even know what was going on with his test after spending in Sochi. However, this does not negate the essential: for the sports world as a whole, Zubkov has become an anti-doping rule violator. It had to be overcome and wait for the end of the period of disqualification.

However, he decided to take a different approach: not only did Zubkov not leave the post of president of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation, which took over after the end of his career, but he also proved to the Moscow City Court that the anti-doping rule violation was considered unproven. There was no such curious situation in Russian sport before.

However, that did not help in the end anyway. Under pressure from the Ministry of Sports, the Russian Olympic Committee and the International Federation, Zubkov was still forced to leave his post.

Another stereotype prevalent in Russian sport is that foreign athletes would resort to doping without exception, but that does not hold. Including due to the fact that they make themselves therapeutic exceptions. This theory is so prevalent in Russia that even the country's president, who was the eighth Olympic champion in biathlon two years ago, was able to deceive him. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen to asthmatics, although he has never taken any medicine against this disease.

And in conspiracy theory, many still believe, to this day, and even relatively young athletes. The most recent example was made by biathlete Evgenia Pavlova. "We are not iron, we are not foreigners who have IT (therapeutic exceptions) … We manage our health," she wrote on a social network.

Here are just official reports, however, two years ago, only four athletes had therapeutic exceptions in professional biathlon. Of course, there are cases where athletes cheat when they receive medical certificates. However, it is quite unprofessional to explain your losses exclusively to a group of athletes.

Moreover, before invoking others, Russian sports still have to look in the mirror. What is the story of a year ago at the track and field tournament in Irkutsk, when the athletes mbadively withdrew from the competition after learning the visit doping agents. More eloquent paintings are difficult.

And this despite the fact that Russian athletics for more than two years at that time was excommunicated from the international family simply because of doping.

And again the paradox. Which has recently reported the best athlete in the country, Maria Lasitskene. Regarding the eventual restoration of the national federation, she did not hide the fact that it was not enough to obtain pardon on its own, it is necessary to prove in practice that the hostility to doping in Russia is not only on paper, but also in the head.

Kuznetsov Artem

Sports correspondent editorial Tbad