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WINTER OLYMPICS

Norwegian curler wants case resolved after Russian drugs test fail

An athlete from Norway who finished fourth in the Olympic curling mixed doubles behind a Russian who then failed a drug test says he wants the situation resolved before the end of the Games.

Published: 21 February 2018 08:25 CET
Norwegian curler wants case resolved after Russian drugs test fail
Russian curlers Alexander Krushelnitsky and Anastasia Bryzgalova celebrate after beating Norway in the bronze medal match. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

Alexander Krushelnitsky's failed drug test shook the Pyeongchang Olympics on Monday, a week after he won bronze with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova.

Now Norway's Magnus Nedregotten has called on organisers and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to expedite the process so he and partner Kristin Sasklien can learn if they have been promoted to third.

“Knowing that we may have been robbed and having to wait to see what happens is obviously emotional, and very stressful,” said Nedregotten, whose medal hopes were dashed after an 8-4 defeat by the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) pair.

“Firstly, he is not guilty before he is convicted,” he added. “All we know is it appears that he had an illegal substance in his body during competition.

“But (if guilty), the preferred option would be to receive the bronze medal at some point during the remainder of the Olympics. Receiving the medals this week would definitely be better than in a year's time.”

Nedregotten revealed his subsequent shock at learning that Krushelnitsky had tested positive for a banned substance.

“At first the main feelings were anger,” he said. “We've been struggling through the Olympics, trying hard to reach our goal, which was a medal.

“Now knowing that they may have had an advantage against us in our games through cheating, feels horrible,” added Nedregotten.

“If (Krushelnitsky is found guilty) then they've robbed us of our moment of glory, receiving our medal in the stadium. That's not cool, that's hard to accept, feeling that you've been kept out of the light.”

A source told AFP he had taken the banned drug meldonium — the same substance that earned Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova a suspension.

It is designed to treat heart problems and diabetes and can increase endurance and recovery.

But many observers and even Olympic curlers themselves were stunned and asked what role performance-enhancing drugs could possibly have in the slow-moving sport.

Canada's Brent Laing said: “Beer and Advil are the only painkillers I've ever heard of for curling.”

Nedregotten, however, thinks otherwise.

“It could have benefited those guys (OAR) as they had a really late game when they lost their semi-final,” he said.

“Then they were playing early the next morning against us in the bronze match.

“I know in my case I would have liked to be more fresh in some of those games and have more energy, at least mentally.”

READ ALSO: 'Flying moustache' leads Norway to Olympic ski jump gold

SPORT

Nurse weeps as tells German court of her blood doping role

A nurse, one of the co-defendants in the trial of a German sports doctor accused of masterminding an international blood-doping network, described on Friday how she helped athletes dope with illicit blood transfusions.

Published: 19 September 2020 10:19 CEST
Nurse weeps as tells German court of her blood doping role
Mark Schmidt talks to his lawyer in court. Photo: Peter Kneffel/AFP
Sports physician Mark Schmidt, 42, and four co-defendants who allegedly aided him, stand trial in Munich accused of helping at least two dozen athletes undergo blood transfusions to boost performance.
   
So far, 23 athletes — mainly skiers and cyclists — from eight countries are known to be involved.
   
If found guilty, Schmidt and his co-defendants face jail for up to 10 years under anti-doping legislation introduced in Germany in 2015.
   
One of the accused, named only as Diana S., told the court how she first helped Schmidt in December 2017 when she travelled to Dobbiaco, Italy, to administer a blood transfusion before a skiing competition.
   
Blood doping is aimed at boosting the number of red blood cells, which allows the body to transport more oxygen to muscles, thereby increasing stamina and performance.
   
 
“It was about transportation, blood and athletes, but at first I didn't know what was behind it,” she is quoted as saying by the German media.   
 
“The treatments were always such that before the race the blood was taken in and after the races, the blood came out.”
   
She claimed to have been given precise instructions “via WhatsApp or by phone calls” where to go, which car to take, who to treat and how much blood to take or inject.
   
The trained nurse, who often sobbed while speaking, was told to dispose the bags of used blood on her way home after the “treatments”.
 
The single mother of three said she was motivated to earn extra money, having been told she would earn 200 euros ($237) per day.
   
At one point, she claims she told Schmidt that she wanted to stop.
   
“I told him that I was too agitated and too scared” to keep doing the clandestine work, because a sense of “panic travelled with me”, but Schmidt convinced her to stay involved. “It is also true that I simply had a shortage of money.”
   
Schmidt is alleged to have helped skiers who competed at both the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics and cyclists who raced at the 2016 Rio summer Olympics, as well as the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana.
   
He was arrested in Germany as part of Operation “Aderlass” — or “blood letting” in German — which involved raids at the Nordic world skiing championships in Seefeld, Austria in February 2019.
   
A verdict in the trial is expected by late December.
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