Justice served, says Scott

Russia IOC ban ‘restores some faith’ for athletes

Beckie Scott has been on the front lines in this fight longer than most.

On Tuesday, the current anti-doping crusader and former cross-country skier from Alberta was able to claim victory in the wake of unprecedented disciplinary action taken by the International Olympic Committee against Russia.

Russia’s national Olympic committee has been suspended, only Russian athletes who are able to prove themselves tested and clean will be allowed to compete at the 2018 Winter Games and only under a neutral designation of OAR, Olympic Athletes of Russia.

The punitive actions came after an IOC report that confirmed Russia’s systemic manipulation of anti-doping efforts at the 2014 Sochi Games.

“A day like today really infuses some confidence and restores some faith in the sport bodies and leadership that is controlling and managing sport right now. Athletes lost a lot of trust, and I think they can be encouraged and reinvigorated by today,” Scott said.

“I feel it was positive, it was a step in the right direction and they landed in the right place.”

There will be no Russian anthem played, nor a Russian flag displayed, should any of the OAR athletes win a medal.

And those victory ceremonies will be scheduled around others to finally honour the athletes who were cheated by Russia out of their legitimate opportunity to stand on the podium in Sochi.

That’s a facet of the IOC response that surprised and pleased Scott. It also hit home. She finished third in the five-kilometre pursuit in Salt Lake City in 2002, only to be upgraded to silver and finally to gold after Russian blood dopers Larisa Lazutina and Olga Danilova were stripped of their medals. Scott received her gold medal in Vancouver in 2004, in front of perhaps a couple of hundred people.