Ten days, not one more. It took 10 days for the name of Russia to be associated with the word doping at the PyeongChang 2018 Games. Friday, February 9, a delegation of 168 “Olympic Athletes from Russia” marched at the opening ceremony, behind the flag Olympic Games, with the common desire to wash away the past and put an end to the scandal of the Sochi 2014 Games. Sunday February 18, a first case of doping came out of the hat. It concerns a certain Alexander Krushelnytsky, who passed into posterity a little earlier in the week for having won, with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova, the bronze medal in the mixed curling event (photo above).
The affair was revealed by the Russian site Sports Express. It was quickly confirmed by Konstantin Vybornov, the spokesperson for the AOR delegation to the PyeongChang Games. According to the latter, Alexander Krushelnytsky would have tested positive for meldonium, a substance banned since January 2016. The positive doping test would have taken place during the Games. The banned product would have been detected in sample A.
The conclusions of the analysis of sample B were to be revealed this Monday, February 19 in PyeongChang. They were on time. The second sample confirmed the findings of the first. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced in a press release that it had taken up the case of Alexander Krushelnytsky, naming the Russian athlete, but specifying that the date of his hearing had not been set. The curler tested positive for meldonium.
According to a source close to the matter, cited by Reuters, Alexander Krushelnytsky has reportedly already left the Gangenung athletes’ village. His accreditation would have been withdrawn. But Canadian television, CBC, announces that the Russian athlete would still be in South Korea, awaiting the final decision from the Olympic authorities.
The Alexander Krushelnytsky affair is of concern. In itself, seeing the name of a Russian athlete appear in the doping section is not a scoop. But the information becomes more enigmatic in the case of a specialist in curling, a discipline where it seems quite improbable to hope to improve one's handling of the broom or the stone throw by resorting to doping.
« With us, it’s not about going faster, higher, stronger, but about being more precise, said Viktoria Moiseeva, another member of the Russian curling team, after the news was announced. I find it hard to imagine what kind of product we could use in curling. This is why I have a hard time believing this story."
Same incomprehension from Dmitry Svishchev, the president of the Russian Curling Federation. “ I have known these athletes for years, he explained on Sunday. You would have to be crazy to take a banned product before the Olympic Games. This story is strange. It raises a lot of questions. » Dmitry Svishchev clarified that the Russian curling team was checked on January 22, 2018, before its departure for South Korea. The tests came back negative.
Unsurprisingly, the IOC was content with a very neutral reaction. Tirelessly repeating that the doping issue was no longer within its purview at the Games, its spokesperson, Mark Adams, suggested that the matter would be “extremely disappointing” if the case were proven.
The first consequence of the affair promises to be very immediate. The “Olympic Athletes from Russia” team will lose a bronze medal. It will slip into Norway's account.
Subsequently, it will be up to the IOC commission responsible for the AOR file to look into the case of Alexander Krushelnytsky. Its president, Nicole Hoevertsz, will present her report to the executive board during the last weekend of the Games. The Olympic organization will then have to decide what fate to reserve for the delegation, whose exemplary behavior should allow them to parade with their own colors at the closing ceremony. With such a scenario, this perspective recedes.
