Sliding championships slip away from Sochi
Athletes pressure federation into pulling 2017 event out of Russia
After reading Richard McLaren’s latest report on doping in high-level sport, 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 that the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation announced Tuesday it is dumping Sochi as host of the upcoming world sliding championships, scheduled for February 2017.
“We live in an age where it’s almost impossible to know what’s true and what’s not true,” said 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.
“When you have that kind of proof, you need to be completely intolerant of it.”
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. “Now we say enough is enough.”
After several athletes chimed in with concerns about going to Sochi — including Canadian bobsled pilot Kaillie Humphries — the IBSF changed course Tuesday.
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.”
The IBSF also called for federations and athletes to show “fair play and respect,” which includes “the assumption of innocence for any athlete, regardless of national affiliation, until proven guilty.”
Russia won gold in Sochi in twoman bobsled, four-man bobsled and men’s skeleton.
“The Russians were extremely dominant,” said Helen Upperton, a silver medallist in bobsled at the 2010 Vancouver Games. “It’s been so hard even as a retired athlete to read all the stories coming out of the McLaren report. It’s just really hard.
“You invest your life and all your time and a lot of money into achieving this dream that is supposed to represent the best of people. It’s supposed to be, ‘May the best man or woman win.’ ”
According to McLaren, 15 Russian medallists in Sochi had their doping samples tampered with, including two athletes who won four gold medals.
“If there are no severe repercussions for people blatantly breaking the rules in sport, you’re not teaching people lessons,” Upperton said. “You’re not upholding the reason the Olympic Games exist.”
Gibson lauded the Latvians for leading the way.
“Latvia gets a lot of credit for being the first ones to say, ‘No, this is ridiculous. We’re not going to be a part of it,’ ” he says. “Latvia is the hero.” Russian officials disagree. “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.”
The Olympic spirit was stolen in 2014. Now we say enough is enough.