Anton Oreh – about the fight against doping

in the Novaya Gazeta publication Journalist Anton Oreh writes :

“Yes, the fight against doping has become both a business and part of politics. But there are few places where sport is as important a part of politics as it is here in Russia. Now our athletes are under sanctions, the majority are content with competitions within the country, and we see how interest in sports has fallen. Because for us it has always been like a struggle of “ours” against “not ours”. Apart from a few people, the names of even the most outstanding Russian athletes mean little to the average person. But once every four years - in winter or summer - everyone sat down to watch the Olympics and root for them, no matter which Russians or in which sports. And then the champions and prize-winners were received in the Kremlin, given cars, paid bonuses, awarded orders, and, over time, some received parliamentary mandates.

Sport is one of the few areas where Russia has certainly been among the world leaders. Hence the great temptation to “help” your athletes. Hence the doping nightmare that covered our sport back in the fall of 2015, and trips to the Olympics without a flag, an anthem, and in truncated squads.

Hence the dozens of champions who lost their awards, but did not receive moral censure. <…>

No matter how strange and unfair the anti-doping system is, its rules are the same for everyone. If you can't change it, follow them. And in our country, any decision, as in the case of Valieva, is accompanied by streams of abuse against Russophobes, Anglo-Saxons, the IOC and WADA, as puppets of the West. Meanwhile, there are specific people who are to blame for the fact that Kamila ended up with this pill. They are to blame for the fact that not only she was left without a gold medal, which, of course, she would have won without any preproduction, but the whole team of figure skaters was left without top awards - and no pills were found on the guys. And someone ruined their careers too. But we have never been able to admit our guilt, our mistakes. That’s why we continued dancing on the rake.”