Athletes are using new technologies and exploiting gray areas in doping rules to boost their performance.
By Umair Irfan and Julia Belluz Updated Feb 18, 2018, 12:37pm EST
Japanese speedskater Kei Saito was sent home this week from the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games after he failed a drug test.
One of the defining images from the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang will surely be the spectacle of 169 Russian athletes marching in dull gray uniforms during the opening ceremonies under the Olympic flag.
To punish Russia for its egregious state-sponsored doping of athletes at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics, the International Olympic Committee has forced Russian athletes to compete not as Russians but as “OARs,” or “Olympic Athlete from Russia.” As Vox’s Zeeshan Aleem noted, it’s an awkward and confusing penalty for one of the worst scandals in sports history.
Yet if the IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which investigated the Russian doping conspiracy, think publicly shaming Russia will scare athletes off from doping, they’re likely mistaken.
Already, Russian Aleksandr Krushelnitckii, who won bronze in mixed doubles curling, tested positive in a preliminary screen on Sunday for the banned drug meldonium, which increases blood flow. The International Olympic Committee acknowledged the report but did not comment on it directly. A confirmed result could threaten the medal he shared with his wife and teammate.
Last week, Japanese speed skater Kei Saito was sent home from Pyeongchang after testing positive for acetalozamide, a masking agent and diuretic.
And German broadcaster ARD revealed this month that an analysis of tests from more than 2,000 winter athletes between 2001 and 2010 showed that 46 percent of medal winners in international cross-country ski competitions returned at least one abnormal drug test. More than 50 of these athletes qualified for the games in South Korea.
“The depth of this suspected doping casts doubt on fair competition at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics,” wrote ARD’s Von Hajo Seppelt and Edmund Willison.
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