SWEDEN – A verbal war is still raging between the two queens of the Olympics, Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) and Marit Bjoergen (NOR), where the former repeatedly is accusing the latter of abusing asthma medicine. Now, Bjoergen is getting support from an unexpected place – the third Olympic queen, Charlotte Kalla (SWE), who is stepping in to defend the Norwegian from the recent attacks.
The 23-year-old Swede criticized the 27-year-old Kowalczyk, who claimed recently that Bjoergen, 30, is cheating her way to better results. And it’s not the first time that the Polish racer has lashed out at Bjoergen. Kowalczyk has publicly accused Bjoergen of doping several times. Charlotte Kalla is frustrated that Kowalczyk goes after Bjoergen for her asthma medicine yet again.
“That’s her own opinion. I don’t really want to waste my energy on this topic. There are so many other things that are so much more important,” Kalla told VG Nett.
“Someone said it really well: Nobody accuses you of doping if you have bad eyesight and use glasses. It doesn’t give you super-vision or any other advantage. Using glasses simply levels the playing field and lets you see as well as everyone else in the race,” said Kalla, leaving the interpretation up to the newspaper.
“Asthma medicines just fix a deficiency and bring everyone on a level playing field. I can’t determine whether this person or that person has asthma, that’s the physicians’ job, and Marit has her paperwork in order,” Kalla said.