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What’s the story?
Russia’s image was further tarnished as Nadezhda Sergeeva, pilot of the two-woman bobsled team which represented Olympics Athletes from Russia in the ongoing PyeongChang Olympics tested positive for a banned substance.
The irony is that during an interview, earlier this year, Sergeeva was seen wearing a sweatshirt with the slogan, “I don’t do doping” printed brightly across the front.
She admitted an anti-doping violation and has been disqualified from the Winter Games.
In case you didn’t know...
A total of 168 Russian athletes are competing in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics as Olympic Athletes from Russia because the country was barred from officially competing in the Winter Games due to doping-related issues.
Earlier Russian Alexander Krushelnitsky of the curling team tested positive for meldonium and was stripped off his bronze medal.
The heart of the matter
Russian Bobsled Federation president Alexander Zubkov confirmed the fact that Sergeeva had tested positive in an out-of-competition test for a banned heart medication - trimetazidine. The bobsledder did not have a prescription for the drug.
Sergeeva and Anastasia Kocherzhova had finished 12th in the two-woman bobsled event earlier this week. However, the results obtained by the team in the race are disqualified.
Sergeeva was confident about coming clean in a dope test. However, the reality was something different.
What’s next?
The athlete has accepted a provisional suspension beyond the period of the Games and reserved her rights to seek the elimination or reduction of the ineligibility period following the conclusion of the Games.
Author’s take
This development comes at a time when the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board was scheduled to meet to discuss whether to lift the suspension of Russia’s Olympic committee and allow them to march with the Russian flag at Sunday’s closing ceremony. Sergeeva’s failure to clear the dope test has definitely jeopardized the issue.
