Russians just don’t learn
FEMALE BOBSLEIGH PILOT JOINS CURLER IN TESTING POSITIVE
Afresh Russian doping case overshadowed the team’s first gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games yesterday and could end the country’s chances of an early return to the Olympic fold.
Russia’s bobsleigh federation said female pilot Nadezhda Sergeyeva had tested positive for a “heart medicine” which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.
Russia’s second doping case came after curler Alexander Krushelnitsky was stripped of his mixed doubles bronze medal.
Sergeyeva placed 14th in the women’s bobsleigh on Wednesday, partnered by brakewoman Anastasia Kocherzhova.
She is among 168 Russians who passed extended vetting to compete as neutrals after Russia’s national Olympic committee was suspended over systemic doping culminating at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.
Despite the extra screening, Russians have accounted for half of the drugs cases here. Japanese short-track speed skater Kei Saito and Slovenian ice hockey player Ziga Jeglic are the other two athletes to fail tests.
Sergeyeva’s case came to light shortly after 15-year-old Alina Zagitova led a Russian one-two in the women’s figure skating.
Zagitova scored exactly the same, 156.65, as Evgenia Medvedeva in the free skate, but edged the 18-year-old two-time world champion by 1.31 points thanks to her sublime, world-record short programme on Thursday.
The result appeared devastating for Medvedeva, who was so overcome she was unable to finish a TV interview.
Sergeyeva’s positive test also came on a day when the Russians qualified for the men’s ice hockey final by beating the Czech Republic 3-0.
It gives them a fabulous chance of winning their first Olympic title since 1992 when they face either Canada or Germany in tomorrow’s final.
Also yesterday, Kelsey Serwa beat fellow Canadian Brittany Phelan to win the women’s ski cross title, which has been in Canadian hands since the sport’s Olympic debut in 2010.
Among the evening events, French army officer Martin Fourcade will go for his fourth gold medal of the Games in the men’s 4 x 7.5km biathlon relay.
Olympic officials will decide over the weekend whether to ease Russia’s suspension and allow their athletes to wave the national flag at tomorrow’s closing ceremony.
They have the option to “partially or fully” lift Russia’s suspension, which was imposed in December. – AFP