Sotnikova spoke about a positive test in Sochi-2014, Korea is eager for a re-investigation

The story happened strange – from beginning to end. In short, so as not to savor the details (and so they will now consider it necessary to groom and cherish for years the fan groups that have been friends for many years against the victory of Adelina Sotnikova in Sochi-2014), it is as follows. Back in the spring, a certain channel, which somehow aroused confidence, made an interview with a figure skater, as they say, about life. He announced this: for the first time about the birth of a child, a trip to the Donbass and the future of Russian athletes. Yes, he raised some topics in the conversation, showed Sotnikova’s chosen one, the christening of the child and asked, apparently, the key question: what about the wedding, the fans won’t understand?

As they say, days passed, and then in July an unused fragment suddenly pops up that Adeline allegedly had a positive doping test in 2014. And Sotnikova in Sochi-2014 for the first time in the history of Russian figure skating won gold among single skaters – and there are no “supposedly” here.

Some time later – after a stormy public reaction (in the spirit: she went crazy, chatted, she herself did not understand what, and why she slandered herself), this fragment was deleted. Moreover, a mailing list has begun from the agency representing the interests of the athlete: the information is not true, please delete the material. Why doesn’t it match? Because “the original source from which you quoted the material has been deleted.”

What can you say? Yes, the three-minute segment of the interview was actually deleted. But what’s the point? What was said was rapidly dispersed in a quotation, which, in general, God knows how, flew into the light. (Both from the lips of Sotnikova herself, and from the hands of the channel, apparently passionately eager to tell the world about herself.) Worrying about the events that Kamila Valieva was involved in at such a young age, Adelina said: “Recalling 2014: after some time they said that they found doping in me, but then they acquitted me, because they opened the second sample, and everything was fine with me.

Everyone disowned the shock information, probably grabbing a hefty dose of stress: the general director of the FFKKR Alexander Kogan, and the coaches Elena Buyanova and Tatyana Tarasova, who prepared Sotnikova for a triumph in Sochi, and RUSADA. Assessment of the application itself: nonsense, nonsense, we do not have information about such a case …

Instead of shock came a great feeling of regret. Blabber this? For what? And the same feeling of apprehension: such words do not remain without consequences. Yes, a lot of time has passed. So – what? How many Russian athletes have been punished over the past decade without much evidence? For words spoken by someone, written diaries? And here – says the Olympic champion herself. And that no one knows.

And here is the first official comment, aka a request. From whom? Of course, from a country that considered and still considers itself to have not lost in the women’s single skating in Sochi-2014, but has not received a gold medal. The South Korean Olympic Committee intends to apply to the IOC with a request to investigate the statements of Adelina Sotnikova that she allegedly had a positive doping test.

While the Korean Anti-Doping Agency is collecting relevant data and information, after which it will ask the IOC to study the Sotnikova case. The reasoning is simple, but you can’t argue against it: the skater herself said that she had a positive result in the A sample, but a negative result in the B sample.

Fury and victory!

Adelina Sotnikova won the gold medal in single skating at the 2014 Olympics, beating Korea’s Kim Yu Na by more than five points. Yu-Na Kim, Kim Yong Ah or even Yunu Kim – the transcription may be different, but it will still be clear what kind of grandiose talent they are talking about. The Korean is the first figure skater in history to have collected all the titles in women’s singles. Reference. Olympic champion in Vancouver 2010, twice world champion. She won the pre-Olympic championship, leaving no doubt that she was going to the gold of the Games in Sochi.

In Russia, before the Games in Sochi, no one put the gold of single skaters into their pockets, of course. But what is there, they were waiting for him. And, what is there, not from Sotnikova. And in the first in the history of figure skating, the team tournament of the Olympic Games, Adeline did not perform. Yulia Lipnitskaya shone there, who drove the world crazy all season. Her skating was simply breathtaking. The Girl in the Red Coat is a great and short story of phenomenal talent.

Sotnikova, who appeared on adult ice very early, a four-time champion of Russia, but who did not have high-profile titles on adult international ice by Sochi 2014, swayed in the waves of success and failure in the Olympic season. The Grand Prix finals finished in fifth place, breaking the jump part. She won the Russian Championship, Lipnitskaya lost the European Championship. Potential to business, as they say, you can’t sew. The team, in which our skaters became Olympic champions, went without Adelina.

In the individual singles tournament, Yulia Lipnitskaya, having fallen from a jump in the short program, flew to fifth place. Kim took first place, Sotnikova came second with a net performance (almost 4 points higher than her personal record) and a lead of 0.28 points from first place. In the free program, the Korean skated last. Yulia Lipnitskaya was already wrong again, already with incredible pressure, self-confidence and strong technical content, she released her program Adelina. Kim, who came to Sochi for the second title of the Olympic champion, did everything she could, her tango was wonderful. But the technical evaluations prepared the verdict: the cascades were inferior to the cost of Sotnikova’s cascades, the rotation and step sequence were of the third level … The components turned out to be approximately equal to those of Adeline.

Adeline’s performance in Sochi was a sensation for many. The figure skater was as if permeated with some kind of inner rage. After her powerful jumps, the onlookers sobbed with delight. Sotnikova played the free program so much, calling on the stands for support in the last seconds and not hiding her jubilation, that both the hall and the commentators exploded.

The indignation of those who longed to see Kim in the first place knew no bounds. They were not ready to forgive the victory of Sotnikova (not even Lipnitskaya, who caused a worldwide stir). Refereeing got far and wide. Journalists, as they say now, from unfriendly countries, were vociferously surprised at the grown components of Sotnikova. A petition appeared calling on the ISU to review the results of the competition. More than two million people signed it. The South Korean Figure Skating Federation sent a protest to the ISU two days after the free skate. But protests are possible only in case of a mathematical error.

And no biased study of the protocols has already led to nothing. One could empathize with Yulia Lipnitskaya due to the fact that in the individual tournament there was not enough strength given in the team one. One could sympathize with Kim, endlessly count points and speculate: what would happen at the Olympic Games in another country … But it was a victory for Russia. And a victory to be proud of: “Did you see that? Sotnikova is just a plague!

Breath blow

And now – a blow in the stomach from Sotnikova herself. Almost ten years later. It is, of course, difficult to understand how an athlete, who already once experienced an unconditional shock after being accused of potential doping – and Adeline even gave written evidence for hearings before the IOC disciplinary commission – was so careless with her words. Even if we assume that the authors mercilessly published the fragment cut out after sighting. What is called without asking.

In 2017, the International Olympic Committee closed the case of a possible violation of anti-doping rules at the 2014 Olympic Games against Adelina Sotnikova. The reason for the proceedings then was information about scratches on the test tube with the doping test of the figure skater. The IOC Disciplinary Commission concluded that sufficient evidence had not been obtained against Sotnikova to substantiate the athlete’s anti-doping rule violation. The proceedings were terminated.

It was a time of endless accusations and subsequent punishments of our athletes. First, before the Olympic Games in Sochi, there was a film about the systematic use of doping in Russian athletics. WADA created a commission under the leadership of Richard Pound, athletics received a ban for almost eight years, and we all learned about athletes who compete only after achieving neutral status.

And then WADA began to study the activities of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory and in 2015 accused Grigory Rodchenkov, its head, of sample destruction. Rodchenkov left in an unknown way for the United States, and … from there, the Olympic Games in Sochi began to grow into a nightmare: allegedly in Sochi at night, having drilled a hole in the wall of the laboratory, they exchanged dirty doping samples for clean ones. And yet – Rodchenkov himself developed a cocktail of three anabolic steroids, which he mixed with alcohol in order to be better absorbed. And this Duchess cocktail was taken by many leaders of Russian sports. The list is attached.

And now WADA, and this is already 2016, again announced that it was creating a group to investigate, now under the leadership of McLaren. The report said “yes” to the informant’s words, and presented a list with the names of the athletes whose samples, according to Rodchenkov, were manipulated.

Now the IOC has created its own commissions: the first one studied the facts of state interference in the anti-doping system of Russia: it recognized that it exists. The second one dealt specifically with the use of doping. It was on her conclusions that many Sochi-2014 medals were taken away from us, but some of them were returned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2018 for lack of evidence of a violation.

So, the scratches on the sample of Adelina Sotnikova, according to the version put forward at the beginning of the IOC proceedings on a possible violation of anti-doping rules at the Olympic Games, concerned Duchess. But the charges against Sotnikova were dropped before the CAS did against the 28 acquitted Russian athletes. And even Rodchenkov noted in his comments that the figure skater “was not part of the doping program.”

Bast in line

Sports lawyers are already trying to explain: the case of the Olympic champion cannot be resumed. It was opened, it was investigated, it was closed. And according to WADA rules, it cannot be resumed due to new circumstances.

And even, as if just in case, they say: a positive doping test is not considered an anti-doping rule violation – in connection with the existing permission for the therapeutic use of drugs or after opening the B sample (which Sotnikova just said).

The World Anti-Doping Agency did not immediately comment on the words of Adelina Sotnikova, sent everyone to the IOC for a start: they say that it was he who was the “results management body”. Until it did.

But WADA has every bast in a line. In September, the fate of Kamila Valieva will be decided at a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. And, let’s not dissemble, the world is not configured for a positive outcome. And many of us, alas, have doubts that Camila will be able to get out of the hearings without loss. Not because she is to blame for the current situation, but because we cannot prove otherwise.

Of course, Sotnikova’s words cannot affect another trial. And we can persuade ourselves as much as we like: Adeline simply decided to briefly – without any explanation about scratches and commissions – to tell that she also somehow had doping problems that she was wildly worried about. Why, they say, talk about the case with Camila, when I, already an adult, could hardly stand it?

I wanted the best, it turned out – as always. And her bright triumph in Sochi-2014 can be trampled down very quickly. The Koreans are already aiming to re-examine the old case. Consider that “testing technology has improved over the years, we think it’s possible to find something that we couldn’t find in the past.” And the point is not even whether or not they will be able to return some punitive structures to this Olympic past. A bad train now has Adeline’s Olympic dress.

… The public field is very dangerous. Once thrown there – like the seeds of hogweed, from which there is no salvation later in ordinary fields. Even if you cut off his flowering head, even mow it whole – it multiplies fiercely. And to get rid of, each germ must be taken under strict control. So are the words.