National Post (National Edition)
World championships slide out of Sochi in 2017
CALGARY • After reading the latest mind-blowing evidence in the Richard McLaren doping report, Duff Gibson is convinced the authorities need to take a stand on behalf of Olympic athletes who compete clean.
Gibson, the gold medallist in skeleton at the 2006 Turin Games, is thrilled the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) announced Tuesday it is dumping Sochi as host of the 2017 world sliding championships.
“We live in an age where it’s almost impossible to know what’s true and what’s not true,” says Gibson, a Canadian national team coach for eight years, including at the 2014 Sochi Games. “But from that perspective, this is about as true and as damning as you can get when it comes to drugs in sport.”
The move comes after Latvia — home of four-time world skeleton champion Martins Dukurs — announced it would boycott the event if it remained at the Sanki Sliding Center.
“The Olympic spirit was stolen in 2014,” the Latvian team said in a statement.
After several high-profile athletes chimed in with concerns about going to Sochi — including Canadian bobsleigh pilot Kaillie Humphries — the IBSF opted Tuesday to change course.
A new location will be determined in the coming days.
“This decision was made for two primary reasons,” the IBSF said in a release. “First, to allow athletes and coaches from all nations to participate in a competition that focuses on sport rather than accusations and discussions — whether justified or not.
“Second, the Russian Bobsleigh Federation has put a great effort in the preparation of the world championships, but the current climate would make it nearly impossible to appreciate the efforts of the organizing committee to host a great event or the quality of the Sanki Sliding Center as one of the best tracks in the world.”
Russia won gold in Sochi in two-man bobsleigh, fourman bobsleigh and men’s skeleton. According to McLaren, 15 Russian medallists in Sochi had their doping samples tampered with, including two gold medallists.
“If there are no severe repercussions for people blatantly breaking the rules in sport, you’re not teaching people lessons,” says Helen Upperton, an Olympic silver medallist in bobsleigh at the Vancouver Games. “You’re not upholding the reason the Olympic Games exist.”
Russia does not share the same view.
“This is a very unfortunate development,” Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for president Vladimir Putin, told RT News. “And we are sure that this is highly politicized decision. It is based on an allegation that simply does not have a real basis.
“And definitely Russia will continue, through its authorities in charge of sports and other bodies, to protect its interests in a legal way.”