DAVOS, Switzerland — The evening before the skate sprint in Davos – Andy Newell’s last World Cup competition of 2016 – the U.S. Ski Team veteran stood in the dark outside the temporary trailer his team was using as a wax cabin and talked about doping. In particular, he talked about systematic doping in Russia and has maintained his innocence since , in her extensive investigation of retroactively-awarded Olympic medals, called this “the butterfly effect...
With the number of athletes testing positive at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics now topping 100 and the second part of the McLaren report into state-sponsored doping in Russia dropping within a month, WADA agreed to a new system of sanctions for countries who do not comply with the World Anti-Doping Code. International Ski Federation President Gian Franco Kasper did not like it.
Not such a great summer for the Norwegian Ski Federation and Martin Johnsrud Sundby; now add Therese Johaug to that list. In this podcast episode, FasterSkier Editor-at-Large Chelsea Little discusses these doping cases and the recent IOC meetings where much was discussed, but perhaps not so much decided upon. Have a listen.
The declaration from the Olympic Summit in Lausanne makes clear that the International Olympic Committee has ideas about how anti-doping work should go forward, but it's unclear whether the IOC wants to make WADA truly independent, or to increase its own influence.
Gian Franco Kasper believes that WADA seeking punishments for countries which do not comply with the WADA Code -- for instance, stopping them from hosting international competitions -- goes too far into the realm of "politics."
Although the IOC said in July that Russia should not host any international winter sports events due to their systematic doping violations and cheating at the 2014 Olympics, it apparently walked those guidelines back -- and now Russia has been awarded biathlon World Championships, despite the fact that the country is not currently in compliance with the WADA Code.
The IOC Executive Board ruled Sunday against a blanket ban on Russian athletes entering the Olympics following the biggest doping scandal in decades. More than the conclusion itself, the guidelines are confusing and unclear -- not to mention unfair to Russian athletes and to clean athletes around the world.
A jam-packed episode of the FS podcast -- the McLaren report, athlete commission responses and some analysis from FS Editor-At-Large Chelsea Little.
On Tuesday, the IOC Executive Board responded to the McLaren report and listed provisional measures for international sports federations moving forward. Fortunately for FIS and the IBU, they're not on the same timeline as summer sports, and will convene at a meeting in just over two weeks in Rio.
Martin Fourcade, the most successful biathlete of the last several years, resorted to Twitter to ask his international federation about the ten positive tests by Russian athletes allegedly hidden by the Russian Ministry of Sport. He didn't get a response. Meanwhile, the IOC moved forward with re-testing anti-doping samples from all Russian athletes at the 2014 Olympics, and also called for any major events scheduled to be held in Russia to be moved.
The International Association of Athletics Federations has banned the Russian track and field team from the 2016 Summer Olympics after a doping scandal. As other federations with doping problems look on, it remains to be seen whether the decision will be upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the International Olympic Committee.
Russian whistleblower Vitaliy Stepanov initially met with World Anti-Doping Agency representatives at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and said he had heard of a list of athletes who were "protected" in the leadup to those Games and which RUSADA was told not to test.
For Throwback Thursday, we're reposting a November editorial calling for WADA to investigate doping in winter sports and irregularities at the Sochi Olympics. How many of our questions have been answered in the last six months?
“There needs to be an investigation by WADA,” International Ski Federation (FIS) Secretary General Sarah Lewis told FasterSkier in a phone interview on Monday. “FIS totally supports it and we have already expressed that anything we can provide, we will do. And it needs to be done [quickly], but carefully.”
42-year-old Norwegian biathlon star Ole Einar Bjørndalen made three big announcements on Tuesday: that he will continue his career, despite rumors of retirement; that he's stepping down from his position with the International Olympic Committee; and that he and Belorussian biathlete Darya Domracheva are expecting a child together.
Norway's TV2 says it has found out that Estonian cross-country skier Kristina Smigun is likely to be stripped of her 2006 Olympic gold medals; national and international federations seem happy to discuss, but the IOC will not. Meanwhile, a Norwegian Paralympian alleges Russians had separate (and comically short) doping control tests at the 2014 Olympics.
Devon Kershaw has a great response to a new WADA proposal to "fix" the problem of awarding Olympic medals to dopers: "The reality is that when someone is cheated out of a medal at a championship like the Olympics, a 'fake real thing' will never be the same... the memories you have about that perfect race that YOU executed should remain."
Just 2 percent of IOC members come from a snow sports background, and one of those two - biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen - skipped the vote for who should host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Between this imbalance and the fact that IOC members are no longer allowed to visit bid cities, the financial might and huge consumer market of China won out over other factors in the decision-making process.
42 votes were needed to win hosting privileges for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Beijing received 44 to win out over Almaty, Kazakhstan, and become the first city to host both summer and winter Olympics.
With a week to go until the IOC members vote on whether to award the 2022 Olympic Games to Beijing or Almaty, a leading human rights nonprofit asserts that the IOC has no tools with which to enforce their vague mandate of “human dignity”.