Russian Doping

Rechecking of Olympic doping tests in Beijing and London will expand the list of found guilty of doping, the Russian athletics superstars up to two dozen for the last three years.

Someday about these crucial years they would write hundreds of books, because there is nothing more attractive for Sofa reader than the collapse of giants and the destruction of empires - whether Roman, Ottoman, Qin Empire, or modern sports. At the heart of the cataclysm, in crushing each of vanished civilizations, certainly there were good intentions and deeds verified. But, as it turns out, there is nothing easier than to quickly destroy what was created decades.

The positive results of doping tests reanalysis of eight Russian athletes headed by Tatiana Beloborodova (Lysenko), which became known on Saturday, is unlikely to significantly alter the overall picture of what is happening. They only emphasize the general trend - the Knights of the Order of doping today everything is allowed. For them, there is no presumption of innocence and the notion of justice, there is no reasonable time review of sports results. And there is no such baseness to which they are not able to commit themselves or to push her person, in order to administer their supposedly righteous judgment.

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The current fight against doping seems to be initially pursued a great and noble goal - to make the sport more honest and natural, as well as to protect the health of athletes from elite to amateur levels. But can we, sitting on the ashes of this, say mission accomplished and ahead - only a bright future and noble? What debunking dozen stars and revision retroactively incredible number of medal results at elite competitions - a purifying fire, which burned all sports evil?

Or, perhaps it makes sense to recognize that what happened in the last two decades – case of Cycling Team "Festina", the defeat of Finland ski team, the "case the BALCO", "operation" Puerto "flagellation Lance Armstrong and current damned days of track and field team of Russia - all it lost its original meaning, it became a "thing in itself" and almost undermined the foundations of the modern sport? Anti-doping system, headed by the WADA, like solitaire, sucked out of the body, which infests almost all juices. By and large, anti-doping today - is a thing in itself, in fact - a separate sport, separate prosperous state within kinking sports empire.

The history of the last century was the era of the sport athletes heroes. Fortunately we heard only by their results, not frozen bioassays. The heroes of this day - it's like snitches Rodchenkov or Stepanovs and scientists, botanists, inventing new methods of preparation of human excreta to after many years to tell fans of dirty laundry that was and what was not. If the fate of the medals of all time will now be decided not in the stadiums and in the laboratory, this sport as a commercial project, and the show will not last long. As such, it does not need any fans or sponsors, or athletes, or even politicians.

Impossible Idea

Apologists for the fight against doping are assured that thanks to the draconian measures and anti-doping fires of the Inquisition is about to come clean sport era. However, two decades after the beginning of active actions in this direction is clear - a sport without illicit drugs is the same as the utopia of a world without violence, a society of equal opportunities and comfortable life in harmony with nature. That is, the idea seems to be correct and beautiful, but it is absolutely impossible, because it contradicts human nature, and in this case - a key idea of sportsmanship. When an idea cannot be realized for a long time, it turns into a farce or a lucrative business.

With the first manifestations of "business clean sport" Russia has faced at the Winter Olympics-2002. But the real revolution in its "Corporation of WADA" took Russia in the last two years. Since then, the sport is living virtually under siege. There were different loud and unpleasant stories in our swimming, cycling, weightlifting, tennis and other sports. But the most affected, of course, it was athletics. According to the calculation for the last three years we have lost here 16 disqualified or suspended stars. It is without rechecking doping tests in Beijing and London, which have not yet turned into a formal punishments without escaped with slight shock of Mildronate (Meldonium) users without justified after so many years of Tatyana Andrianova.

This figure is catastrophic, because each lost a star is a hard blow to the reputation of the country, thrown millions of rubles and thousands of man-hours spent on the preparation of the disqualified athletes. As many incidents of doping athletes of the top level till 1990s, Russia did not have in all sports combined. So many athletes level winners of the world championship and the Olympic Games in some countries did not have in their history.

FIRST "BELL": Pishchalnikova And Arzhakova

The first "warning bell" before the impending disaster bell for the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) in the spring of 2013. Then it turned out that the sample is a silver medalist of the London Olympics in the discus throw Darya Pishchalnikova, taken in May of 2012, was positive for the banned steroid Oxandrolone. A sample was taken for RUSADA line, which also decided to cancel the results of athletes, Olympic medal taken away, as well as to disqualify her for 10 years. In fact, it meant the end of the team's career leader in its discipline and the first "minus" in the column of our athletes, who won Olympic medals in London. "For a company" with Pishchalnikova, Elena Arzhakova went in disqualification and European Champion 2012 in the women's 800 meters and also a participant of London Olympics.

An interesting point: Pishchalnikova tested positive in the spring of 2012, that had not stopped her after a couple of months to participate in the Olympics and won a medal. As we learn later in the report of the Independent Commission of WADA, the situation was as follows: Daria has paid a certain sum for their concealment of positive samples to the Director of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory Gregory Rodchenkov. Subsequently, however, the sample was sent for rechecking in Lausanne laboratory, where Oxandrolone was found. Offended Pishchalnikova wrote a letter to the IAAF and WADA, which "passed" Rodchenkov and told all this outrageous story. But then the athlete took back her words, and has not yet joined the ranks of "whistleblowers".

Chegin’s Athletes Plus Zaripova and Chernova

Olympic champion in London 2012 in race walking Elena Lashmanova in January 2014 passed a positive-competition test for one of the cutting-edge analogue of growth hormone. There was a two-year suspension, which she has managed to break; Lashmanova participated with a couple of colleagues, which were implicated in the use of doping in the Championship of Mordovia. IAAF threatened to launch an investigation, but any sanctions have not followed so far.

My colleagues nicknamed January 20, 2015, the most shameful day in the history of the Russian athletics. Then it was announced that the disqualification of the group of inmates of Saransk coach Victor Chegin - Olga Kaniskina, Valeria Borchina, Sergey Kirdyapkin, Sergey Bakulin, Vladimir Kanaikin. Soon they were joined by Olympic champion of London 2012 in the women's 3000 m steeplechase champion Yuliya Zaripova and 2011 World heptathlon Tatyana Chernova.

Since all athletes except Chernova, have been caught according to the biological passport, RUSADA applied the practice of selective cancellation of results, allowing athletes to keep their major victories in career. IAAF subsequently successfully appealed against this decision. Thus, Kirdyapkin lost the gold medal of London 2012, Kaniskina - silver and Zaripova, although formally retained her Olympic medal, lost the world title in 2011.

Chegin, which in recent years have been caught on a dope about two dozen athletes, not in a hurry to retire. Valentin Balakhnichev (President of track-and-field Athletics Federation) retired the first after mass revelations in winter 2015, many years gone federation president, right behind him - head coach Valentin Maslakov retired. It was only after more than a year, in late March 2016, followed by a lifetime disqualification of Chegin.

"Stepanovs": Savinova And Company

The first film of German journalist Hajo Zeppelt titled "Secret doping: as Russia wins the victory" was released almost two years ago, in December 2014. Then, the general public became acquainted with a former employee RUSADA Vitaly Stepanov and his wife, a Russian national team runner Julia. Shooting a hidden camera that this couple gave Zeppelt subsequently formed the basis of the investigation of the Independent Committee of WADA. Dear officials, headed by the former head of WADA, Richard Pound for almost a year studying Zeppelt’s film, to November 1, 2015-th solemnly publish its report. Actually, with this document and the countdown it has begun, when some problems turned into a global catastrophe in the Russian athletics.

At this point, except for the removal of the Federation from all international competitions, in person of the athletes on the basis of the WADA report, there were no disqualified athletes. Although a temporary suspension from all competitions got Olympic champion of London 2012 in the 800m Maria Savinova, bronze medalist in the same discipline Catherine Poistogova, and their lesser-known counterparts Anastasia Bazdyreva and Christina Ugarova.

All four runners wait for the decision of their fate of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS). The verdict is expected in the near future and may be unprecedented: on the basis of only one entry with a hidden camera, without any suspicious samples or reading biometric passports, WADA requires runners to a lifetime ban.

Mildronate Addicts

The scandal associated with the capture of the mass of athletes from various sports on prohibited from 1 January 2016 Meldonium (Mildronate), domestic athletics were hardly touched. Positive samples for the substance passed the "average": long-distance runners Gulshat Fazlitdinova, Minzhulin Andrei and Olga Vovk, as well as a participant of the World Championship-2015 in the women's 400 m Nadezda Kotljarova. All four were later acquitted in accordance with the new recommendations of WADA and now safely perform at Russian competitions.

In other sports, it is not yet clear just the fate of swimmer Yuliya Efimova and tennis player Maria Sharapova. Although the overall reputation of the story of the Russian sports, including athletics, has not improved. Yes, many of its members escaped with slight shock, but a shadow over them all was well cast. And the general public is unlikely to want to get to the heart of the matter.

Victims of doping rechecking

In December of 2012, just at the end of an eight-year tests shelf life, they rechecked samples from the World Championship 2005 in Helsinki. The first victims were hammer thrower Olga Kuzenkova and long jumper Tatyana Kotova, who lost respectively gold and silver medals.

Three years later, the IAAF somehow went back to samples from Helsinki. At this time, they got the bronze medalist in the 800m Tatyana Andrianova, in which analyzes was found a banned steroid Stanozolol. However Andrianova, who by that time had already completed a career, decided to defend her good name and appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS). The court ruled that the trial was actually opened contrary to the rules, already at the end of the maximum, an eight-year term of its storage. So, whatever what was found, it had no significance. So Andrianova kept the medal, not only for herself, but also for more than a dozen of Russians, whose positive samples from the Helsinki-2015 automatically reset to zero.

The following cross-check samples - it is the last days - happened already by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). For breakfast we have taken aback the list of 14 Russian participants in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (11 of them - athletes). May 31 - June 1, Lausanne will take place opening of the samples "B", and if everything is confirmed, we will lose one gold, two silver and four bronze medals from the 2008 Olympic Games. Under the threat of a positive sample Chermoshanskaya Julia turned and wonder in the sprint relay 4 × 100 m, where we won favorites from Jamaica and the United States. Also, positive results in the re-examination was given a sample of Maria Abakumova (javelin, silver), Anastasia Kapachinskaya, Tatyana Firova (both - the 4 × 400 m, silver), Anna Chicherova (height, bronze), Denis Alexeev (4 × 400 meters, bronze) Ekaterina Volkova (3000 m, bronze) and Denis Nizhegorodov (50 km, bronze).

Oh, and for dessert on Saturday arrived, and the results of the IOC rechecking the line samples from the 2012 Games in London. While it is known only one name - the winner in the hammer throw Tatiana Beloborodova (Lysenko). All in all, a positive sample "A" are found in eight Russians in the three sports. The athletes on this list - no more than half, and the stars, except Beloborodova, are not there. Just a small, but still a consolation. Although if everything continues in the same pace, the exact figure Russian athletes, awards which will carry the present "Cursed Days" will not have fundamental importance. After all, the "mass grave" with them may be suffering not only our team but the entire modern sport.