A Russian athlete participating in the Pyeongchang Games has failed a doping test, despite having worn a T-Shirt with the slogan ‘I don’t do doping.’
Female bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva is the second Russian athlete to fail a doping test at this year’s games in South Korea.
This latest revelation comes just one day prior to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board’s decision to reinstate Russia for Sunday’s closing ceremony.
The Russian team had been banned from the Olympics for doping charges during the Sochi Games. However, the IOC chose to invite 168 Russian competitors to Pyeongchang to participate under the Olympic flag.
The substance detected in Sergeeva’s system was trimetazdine; a drug used to treat angina. The World Anti-Doping Agency has banned trimetazdine due to its effects on metabolism.
Sergeeva spoke to the Associated Press earlier this month to discuss how athletes from other nations had warmed up to her after she passed the IOC vetting tests required for the games, a process which involved looking into her drug taking history.
While training in a top emblazoned with the statement, ‘I Don’t Do Doping,’ Sergeeva told AP:
I don’t know why, but they’ve started talking to us more than ever before. I feel it. Maybe it’s a sign to them that we’re clean,
There’s a lot of people coming up and saying, ‘We’re happy you’re here.
You can see Sergeeva wearing her anti-doping t-shirt in the following clip, uploaded to YouTube by filmmaker Roman Bibishev:
Stanislav Pozdnyakov, delegation leader for Russia, told Russian reporters:
This won’t win us any extra credit.
Unfortunately this case speaks to negligence by the athlete. She has let us down.
The Russian bobsleigh federation has released the following statement:
On Feb. 13, her sample was clean. The team’s medical staff did not prescribe the drug to the athlete.
The Bobsleigh Federation of Russia and the athlete herself understand the extent of their responsibility and understand how what has happened can have an impact on the fate of the whole team.
Only on Thursday, 25-year-old Russian curling athlete Alexander Krushelnitsky had his mixed-team bronze medal taken away after he tested positive for the substance meldonium.
Meldonium is a banned drug which is said to help athletes with their endurance levels.
A CAS statement said:
The athlete has admitted the anti-doping rule violation.
He is disqualified from the mixed doubles curling event at the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018 and the results obtained by the team OAR at the same event are disqualified.
According to Business Insider, Sergeeva formerly competed in track and field sports as a heptathlete before switching fields to bob-sleighing back in 2010.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.