via YouTube/Roman Bibishev
Another day, another Russian Olympic Athlete testing positive for a banned substance.
On February 23rd, it was announced that Nadezhda Sergeeva, a Russian bobsledder, tested positive for a banned heart medication. The Russian Bobsledding Federation President Alexander Zubkov told the Associated Press: “She confirms she took no such medication and the team confirms she was not issued any medication…I can tell you that on the 13th it was clean, but on the 18th it gave a positive result for the heart medication.”
It hasn’t been a good few days for Russian athletes as another athlete, curler Aleksandr Krushelnitcki, tested positive for a banned substance and was subsequently stripped of his bronze medal.
Even after getting caught up in a massive doping scandal that saw athletes from Russia banned from competing under the Russian flag in the 2018 Winter Olympics, it seems that some of the country’s athletes (they were allowed to participate in the games but as the “Olympic Athletes from Russia) can’t stay clean. Any athlete that tested negative for banned substances before the start of the games was allowed to compete, but as the athletes are tested throughout the Olympics, it seems that some of the competitors decided to throw caution to the wind.
Even though she tested positive for these substances, it did not do Sergeeva much good as she placed 12th in the women’s bobsledding event she competed in.
Russia had hoped that they may be reinstated for the games’ closing ceremony so that their national anthem could be played and their flag could be flown, but Sergeeva and Krushelnitcki’s positive drug tests cast further doubt that this will happen. The International Olympic Committee is set to vote on Saturday to decide whether Russia will be reinstated, but it doesn’t seem likely.