Russian Athletes Refuse To Return Olympic Medals After Doping Scandal

[Bladewire]

?I don?t want to return my medals because I think no one would have deserved them more.?

"The fact many medals have not been returned points to a broader issue with the culture of Russian sport."

"The Rusdian federation is already suspended over a 2015 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report that exposed systematic state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics."

Russian Athletes Refuse To Return Olympic Medals After Doping Scandal | HuffPost

The silver medals Russian sprinter Tatyana Firova won at the Beijing and London Olympics are stored in a safe in her apartment near Moscow in defiance of the International Olympic Committee, which has wanted them back for months.

Firova is one of six athletes who told Reuters they had yet to return Olympic medals and diplomas from the Beijing and London Games that were revoked over the last year after their samples, or those of relay teammates, tested positive for banned substances.

Two of these athletes said they had no intention of returning them, while three others said they would do so but were unclear how to proceed, had logistical constraints or were awaiting the outcome of an appeal. Another athlete was undecided.

?I don?t want to return my medals because I think no one would have deserved them more,? said Firova, who was stripped of her Beijing silver medal in the 4x400-meter relay after banned substances, including the anabolic steroid turinabol, were found in her samples.

Russia?s athletics federation told Reuters that three stripped Olympic medals and one diploma had been returned, and that several appeals were still being heard. In February, it said 23 medals needed to be handed back.

The federation is already suspended over a 2015 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report that exposed systematic state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics. It remains unclear if not returning medals could lead to additional disciplinary measures or stop Russian athletes going to the Olympics.

It is also unclear whether the International Olympic Committee can compel athletes to return medals.

?They are not a police force,? Olympic historian Bill Mallon said of the IOC.

[Bladewire]

Canadian athletes still angry about Russian doping

""That country should be banned from a number of Olympic quadrennials," Lumsden says. "The IOC copped out. You've already proven this country had a state-wide system in place to win medals. That is a punishable offence and nothing has happened.""


When Canadian Olympian Jesse Lumsden watched a newly released documentary that explores the recent Russian doping scandal, he became irate all over again.

"I couldn't sleep. It made me sick to my stomach," the bobsledder says.

Filmmaker Bryan Fogel's Icarus revisits Russia's state-sponsored doping program, brought to light more than a year ago when an investigation led by a Canadian law professor, Richard McLaren, confirmed evidence of widespread cheating by Russian athletes and officials that included members of the country's government.

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When McLaren's report was first released, Lumsden had the same kind of visceral response that he did to the documentary. But he says, like many other people, he had forgotten just how bad the situation was and continues to be until seeing the film.

"Hopefully it creates a reminder of this happening and that nothing substantial has been done," he says.

Lumsden, who is in Calgary preparing for the upcoming bobsleigh season and the Olympics, says he's been talking to other athletes across Canada who are reacting the same way.

"Most of my conversations around this movie with them have been about? how mind-blowing it is," he says. "And how they can't even talk about it because we're all so mad."

'The IOC copped out'

McLaren's full report, released just days before the start of the 2016 Rio Olympics, shed even more light on the depth of the doping scandal in Russia. At the time, the World Anti-Doping Agency recommended banning the country's athletes from Rio. But the International Olympic Committee stopped short of a blanket ban, instead letting each global sports federation decide which athletes should be allowed to compete.

Now, less than six months away from the Winter Olympics, Lumsden is renewing calls for a full Russian ban.

"That country should be banned from a number of Olympic quadrennials," Lumsden says. "The IOC copped out. You've already proven this country had a state-wide system in place to win medals. That is a punishable offence and nothing has happened."

According to McLaren's 97-page report, which was commissioned by WADA, the lab at the Sochi Olympics "operated a unique sample swapping methodology" that allowed Russian athletes to avoid detection at the 2014 Winter Games, where the host country topped the medal table with 13 gold medals and 33 medals overall.

A decision on whether or not Russian athletes will be able to compete in Pyeongchang in February 2018 has not yet been made by the IOC.

"We all want to believe people do things the right way, not the easy way, especially under the Olympic rings," Lumsden says, adding that this is a pivotal moment for the Olympic movement when it comes to legitimacy and reputation.

"I've lost some faith in it," he says. "I'm not going to stand here and believe in something when things like this happen. It's not the whole story, though. I believe there are a lot of athletes out there who share our values and want to compete in clean sport."


Weightlifter Christine Girard is still waiting for the gold medal she's due after the two athletes who finished above her on the podium at the London Olympics tested positive. (Francois Mori/Canadian Press)
Not as good as gold

If there's one Canadian Olympian who knows the devastation of doping all too well, it's weightlifter Christine Girard, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2012 London Games.

In 2008 she placed fourth, just steps away from the podium. In 2012, she finally broke through and placed third.

Those results changed last summer. Girard found out she'd not only be upgraded to a bronze medal for her 2008 performance because of a positive test by the silver medallist, but also a gold for 2012 because of a pair of positive tests by the athletes above her on the podium.

Still, it's not the same as winning the medal on the spot.

"All those four years leading up to London were really hard for me," she says. "It shouldn't have been that way."

Had Girard been awarded the bronze in 2008, she would have been Canada's first medallist in Beijing. She says it would have changed almost everything in her life ? from sponsorship opportunities to publicity, she could have had a very different road. Instead, she remained virtually unknown and paid the price because of it.

"I had to train in an unheated carport," she says. "How much opportunity that would have given me is hard to know, but it would have been so different."

'I don't think they've learned their lesson'

[Bladewire]

Russian anti doping doctor trying to flee Putin's corrupt Russia

[TheDynasty]

a lot of good information in this thread

[Bladewire]

A shame Russian athletes cheat the Olympics then refuse to return the medals they stole by doping.

[Sarn]

who cares?

[Matt 26z]

Doping and steroids should be legal in sports. Then, if anyone cared about it, they could have "natural athlete" leagues. Same setup as bodybuilding.

[beerptrol]

I have no problems with them keeping the medals. IOC is a corrupt organization that only cares about the money and "gifts" it gets

[beerptrol]

Originally Posted by Bladewire

A shame Russian athletes cheat the Olympics then refuse to return the medals they stole by doping.

I think it's a bigger shame the IOC basiclly gave them a slap on the wrist

[pimpmaster9000]

All Olympic athletes dope...I can easily prove this...

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by Sarn

who cares?

The people who won without doping and didn't get their medals and those who value the integrity of Olympic wins, and sports fans in general

[JFK]

Originally Posted by TheDynasty

a lot of good information in this thread

You want to get hopped up ?