Olympic spirit dying, athletes looking to IOC for a change, U.S. athlete warns
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Spirit
Pyeongchang (South Korea), Feb. 8, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) The Olympic spirit is in danger of being snuffed out by doping scandals, U.S. skeleton slider Katie Uhlaender warned on Thursday, urging the Olympic Movement to brace up to checking it.
The recent scandal has led to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banning dozens of Russian athletes for life.
Already, sport’s highest tribunal, the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), has nullified the sanctions.
Both the IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have expressed disappointment with the CAS decision.
Uhlaender says the situation is a “catastrophe”, and all parties involved must grasp the opportunity for reform.
“Initially when the IOC took such a strong stance to ban Russia and strip the medals, it gave the athletes who were holding on to the spirit of sport, hope.
“It strengthened our Olympic spirit,” she said at a news conference on Thursday.
“When CAS took that away, it did the opposite. So, I think we’re all turning to the IOC for reform and to take a strong stance to give us that spirit back.
“We’re holding to an Olympic spirit that feels like it is dying.”
Two-time world champion Uhlaender had finished 0.04 seconds outside the medals at the 2014 Sochi Games, but the third-placed slider, Russia’s Elena Nikitina, was stripped of her bronze medal in November.
The Russian was banned for life after the IOC said she had committed anti-doping violations.
However, Nikitina was one of 28 Russians to have their bans overturned by CAS, leaving Uhlaender unsure if or when she would ever get her hands on the Sochi bronze.
The IOC invited 169 carefully-screened Russian athletes to compete as independent athletes after the country was banned from Pyeongchang over the Sochi 2014 doping scandal.
It then refused to invite any of the Russian athletes who had their bans overturned by CAS.
Dozens of Russians, including some who had not been named in the investigations or had any prior doping offences, but were still not invited, have since lodged appeals with CAS.
They are seeking to be admitted to the Games.
Nikitina is also in Pyeongchang awaiting news on her appeal.
Uhlaender warned that if the IOC, WADA and CAS failed to find a solution to the anti-doping system’s problems, it would open a “Pandora’s Box’’.
“I‘m looking to the IOC to take a harder stance and I think all the athletes are looking to the IOC to make sure that the athletes are tested —- not just increased in competition.
“Because we know when we’re going to compete,” said Uhlaender, who will be competing in her fourth Olympics.
“It’s the out-of-competition testing that’s most important. Why can’t we have the top 10 athletes in the world tested out of competition mandatory by an independent source?”(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Emmanuel Okara and Olawale Alabi)