No Olympics seems complete without some loud scandal. This year the scandal will break out in curling.

On winter Olympic Games 2018, Pyeongchang is buzzing as Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has tested positive for doping — yes, the curler apparently did dope. Krushelnitsky, together with his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova, won bronze in the mixed doubles curling competition.

Here's what you need to know about the brewing doping scandal in Russian curling.

Why did a doping Russian curler cause such chaos?

In fact, if a curler were caught using performance-enhancing drugs, everyone would have a good laugh at first, and then everyone would forget about what happened, and life would move on. Curling is a calm and easy game; curling is often played over a glass of beer (though not at the Olympics). This sport does not require brute strength, and unlike a marathon, curling does not require endurance and resistance to stress on the heart.

Context

Sick, Norwegian? Sit at home!

TV 2 Norge 15.02.2018

How does doping work?

The Conversation 12.02.2018

Sports are no longer important in Pyeongchang

Deutschlandfunk 10.02.2018 However, if you watch the stones slide on the ice for several hours, it can be a serious test for your patience and piss you off. And for furious sweeping, rubbing the ice with a brush, as curlers insistently declare, you need to be in good physical shape.

True, Krushelnitsky is Russian. It complicates things - especially at these Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. At the Sochi Olympics, Russia used state system support for doping, and the International Olympic Committee decided to remove the country from the 2018 Olympics. Formally, Russia is not even here. Her team is called the "Olympic Athletes from Russia", or OAR, and she competes under the Olympic flag. At the medal ceremonies (and the UAR has not yet won gold), there will be no National anthem Russia, and the Olympic anthem.

All Russian athletes "disqualified or ineligible to compete for anti-doping rule violations" in the past have been ineligible to compete in the Olympics. Russians have also been subjected to especially tough drug tests this year. In January, the IOC published "rules of conduct" for the UAR delegation. Athletes, for example, cannot display the Russian flag in the Olympic village, although they can hang it in their bedroom.

The IOC has said that Russian athletes may be allowed to show up in their uniform and carry their flag at the closing ceremonies if they "comply fully" with these rules. But the fact that Krushelnitsky violated anti-doping rules threatens the restoration of Russia's right to participate in the Olympic Games.

What was found in the body of Alexander Krushelnitsky?

Meldonium is the same substance that suspended tennis star Maria Sharapova for 15 months.

According to the US Anti-Doping Agency, meldonium "is considered a drug with stimulant properties that can improve athletic performance, including increased endurance, better recovery from exercise, and increased central nervous system excitation."

Krushelnitsky reportedly told Russian officials that meldonium had been slipped into his drink by a teammate who had been barred from the Olympics.

If Oleksandr Krushelnytsky is stripped of his medal, who will take the bronze?

The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed that, at the request of the IOC, it is starting to consider the case of Alexander Krushelnitsky. If the UAR curling team is stripped of their medals, Norwegians Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien, "in line" for the bronze, will receive their medals.

Norway is already leading standings- and she can be awarded another medal.

Who will decide whether Russia will enter the awards ceremony under the Russian flag?

To monitor issues related to the Russian team at the Games, the IOC has formed an OAR Project Implementation Group (OARIG). It consists of group chairman, IOC Executive Board member Nicole Hoevertsz of Aruba, who competed in synchronized swimming at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Danka Bartekova of Slovakia, a former Olympic athlete, participating in shooting competitions, and CEO IOC Christophe De Kepper from Belgium.

When will the decision regarding Russia be made?

OARIG will present its opinion to the IOC Executive Board on 24 February, the day before the closing ceremony. O decision will be announced on the same day.

How will Alexander Krushelnitsky's positive doping test affect this decision?

Doping does not contribute to a positive decision regarding Russia. However, a positive doping test will probably not mean automatic disqualification. At an IOC session on Feb. 6, Hewertz said that "isolated incidents" would not necessarily warrant an extension of Russia's ban from the games.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams, responding to a question from TIME reporters, wrote in an email: “ It's about not just about the behavior of the team here (at the Olympics) - although this is important. According to Adams, OARIG will consider whether "it acted in accordance with the spirit and letter of the law."

As far as the letter of the law is concerned, it can all come down to how seriously the IOC takes the word "completely". Athletes from Russia had to “completely comply” with its conditions, even in order to simply participate in competitions under a neutral flag. Every athlete at the Olympics had to be clean. One of them, apparently, was not clean. And this is no longer “full” compliance with the conditions.

However, as far as the spirit of the law is concerned, the problem is more complicated. If the vast majority of Russian athletes have passed drug tests and have not waved the Russian flag everywhere, or otherwise tried to circumvent the rules imposed for the UAR, should they be punished because of one scoundrel?

And yet, a country that has already been caught using a massive doping scheme appears to be violating anti-doping rules again. Even for the IOC, which "suspended" the Russians from the Olympics but still welcomed them to Pyeongchang, this curling scandal may be too serious and unbearable.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

On July 21, the Court of Arbitration for Sports dismissed the claim of the Russian Olympic Committee and 68 Russian athletes against the International Association of Athletics Federations. Our team will not be able to compete at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro under the flag of Russia. The reason is the doping scandal that began with the publication of the WADA report.

Vladimir Gomelsky, honored coach of the RSFS, sports commentator:

- Who gave the reason is clear: those of our athletes and other athletes in the world who took doping and were caught. But whether they are personally to blame for this, I'm not ready to say. I am not a judge or a prosecutor to accuse athletes.

Vyacheslav Fetisov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy, two-time Olympic champion:

- Lots of people to blame. The first bell sounded back in the story of our walkers caught doping, then there were other cases. It became clear that history was taking on a systemic character. Our country came under tight control, and it was necessary to take urgent measures, to work actively. After all, we have our own independent anti-doping agency, there is a minister, one of whose duties is to conduct an anti-doping policy, there are specific officials in the departments and departments of the ministry, the Center sports training, who go to work, receive money for ensuring that our athletes meet all world standards. It was possible and necessary to participate in the work of WADA, understand the trends taking place in the world, study which drugs can be monitored and subsequently included in the banned list, etc. Sport is an international system, everyone understands the rules of the game, and they must comply with them. And now I feel sorry for our athletes, coaches, who sit and wait, whether they will go to the Olympics or not.

Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov, President of the National Football Fund:

— America. The Ukrainians were twice tested for doping all the time, of these two doping controls, one turned out to be positive. That is 50%. And no one makes a noise about it. We have 1% of samples turned out to be positive, and the whole world is against us. Doping is accepted by all teams and almost all athletes. But it cannot be said in the literal sense that this is doping: there are drugs that restore, soothe, strengthen. But all this was turned into doping, everything was done against us. And from Sochi they are all digging for us. But we adapt to them, we say that we are ready for cardinal steps. And officials have already been fired, who, perhaps, are not to blame.

Dmitry Gudkov, independent deputy of the State Duma of the sixth convocation:

- Our government, Olympic and sports officials are to blame. As a former athlete, I know that in some cases doping is generally a compulsory thing. Athletes are allowed to participate in competitions only under certain conditions, it is not always possible to refuse this. Any athlete strives for the main competition in his life - the Olympics, so he is forced to live by the rules that functionaries set. You can’t resist this, otherwise you will fly out of the profession. Sport in our country has always been an element of politics. And yet I hope that we will go to Rio. In civilized countries, sports and politics are not so connected, and they are unlikely to want to spoil the holiday.

Nikolay Durmanov, ex-head of the anti-doping service of Russia:

- Some of our anti-doping leaders simply did not have enough brains, culture and a clear understanding of why they sit in their place and what they get paid for. The anti-doping services have the function of protecting the image and reputation. Having removed the politically correct statements about the importance of the fight against doping, we get the technical part of the problem. And it is, paradoxically, the least connected with the testing of athletes. I tend to think it's all part information war directed specifically against our athletes. Judging by the impudence, there are interests here that are not from the world of sports. Sports selected as a sublimated point national consciousness. It's good to cut such a pole. I hope that our athletes will go to the Olympics. And only under their own flag.

Sergey Yuran, football player, coach:

- If the sample showed that the athlete was doping, then he himself is to blame. Blame his coach, who was probably in the know, and the doctors responsible for the health of the athlete. This is the chain of guilt. And in what is happening now, of course, there is politics. A million percent that the main objective all this - to remove competitors and not let our athletes go to the Olympics. It was not possible to put pressure on us through sanctions, we decided to act through sports. It's disgusting to look at all this. There is very little hope for the team's trip to Brazil. But if we are still allowed to go, then we must perform under the flag of Russia.

Doping scandals around Russian sports have finally become a political factor. No matter how the top leadership of the country tried to distance itself from the accusations of organizing a doping program, they have to answer for it. Now not only for the Olympics, but also about the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

The situation is more than serious. Thus, the draw for the group stage of the 2018 World Cup, which is to be held on December 1 in the Kremlin with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation, is overshadowed by new revelations from a WADA informant Grigory Rodchenkov. The former head of RUSADA promised FIFA to provide data that proves the participation of Russian football players in " state program doping”, according to the telegram channel “Mutko against”.

At the same time, the channel published the names of 34 Russian football players, both men and women, who are being investigated by FIFA. Some of them are part of the Russian national team. It is noted that FIFA is confident in the presence of prohibited substances in the blood of at least three players from the list. We are talking about traces of marijuana and the drug dexamethasone.

In mid-November, FIFA had already turned to Rodchenkov for information about doping in Russian football. It was, in particular, about those football players who were mentioned in the report of the Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren. As a result, it was announced that no connection between the players with doping was found, although the investigation is ongoing.

Rodchenkov's latest promises sound dubious. In addition to the story with the players, the defector told the media about how before the Olympics in Sochi Vitaly Mutko allegedly demanded that he mix doping in the urine of a Ukrainian so that the Russian would win. And this despite the fact that there was no conflict between Russia and Ukraine at that time. It looks like the inventions of an unscrupulous person.

Former FIFA Vice President Vyacheslav Koloskov called Rodchenkov's actions "clumsy". He recalled that RUSADA, in which the defector worked, had nothing to do with football. “FIFA has its own doping service, there are doping officers who are present at all official competitions, and sometimes they have the right to take doping tests even outside official competitions,” the sports functionary explained.

It is apparently too late to expect any other behavior from Rodchenkov. After the Basmanny Court arrested the ex-head of RUSADA in absentia in connection with the charge under the article “Abuse of official powers that entailed grave consequences,” he faces up to 10 years in prison. Until the international search for the fugitive brings results, he will obviously cause damage to his former homeland in every possible way.

According to Dean of the Faculty of the Institute of Health and Rehabilitology of the NSU. Lesgaft Denis Olisov, there are no grounds to consider three Russian football players “dirty”.

- Until now, none of the players in doping has been noticed in our country. I do not quite understand whether marijuana smoking, which two football players from Rodchenko's list are suspected of, can be considered as doping, a stimulant. And another person said that he was injected with dexamethasone - a common drug that, in the presence of documents of a therapeutic exception, is injected to everyone, always and constantly. This is an anti-inflammatory drug.

"SP": - Nevertheless, the case is presented as if doping was recorded ...

- This is all a subject for trial by lawyers and official bodies. Because this is some kind of shame ... One person begins to bully the entire Russian sport. It doesn't look like anything at all.

"SP": - Do you remember any doping stories in world football? Except for the case of Maradona with cocaine, which of course we all remember ...

“Nothing like that has ever happened in my memory. Football itself is a calm sport. There, rather, the players were seen in the bad excesses of the moral and ethical plan, but not in the use of drug doping.

Valery Chukhriy, former head of the FIFA office in Moscow he is calm about the championship, but believes that sports officials should be punished as a result of the scandal.

- I don’t think that Rodchenkov made a special guess for the upcoming 2018 World Cup draw. It just so happened by chance. The doping scandal has been going on for a long time. The other day I watched an article in Soviet Sport for 2013. So Rodchenkov and his sister are already mentioned there. And the English newspapers were already writing about it with might and main.

"SP": - What could be the possible consequences for our players?

Athletes from other sports have already been punished. There must have been something there. And the players were checked, but nothing was found. Therefore, I do not think that our team will be suspended. In addition, football is a special kind of sport. It is closer to what we see in Canada, the NHL - they are independent of WADA.

In addition, the entire team is not suspended at all. There has never been a single such case. Suspend individually players. If someone messed up. Like how Eremenko smoked or what he did there. And before that there was Egor Titov. We have more hookah smoking and drinking champagne in Monte Carlo. But you can't be disqualified for that.

"SP": The World Cup will not be taken away from us?

“No one is going to do this. The World Cup will take place. Our team is 99% likely to participate.

"SP": - Then because of what all the fuss?

- There is no smoke without fire. In the same material of "Soviet Sport" for 2013, athletes, on condition of anonymity, admitted that they paid 50 thousand rubles a month for their doping tests to be negative. Now these confessions are no longer heard.

The rise of our athletes in Sochi after losing at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 also looks strange. Let me remind you that we took 11th place there. In particular, the Latvian skeletonists and the Russian doctor of the Finnish team, originally from Estonia, paid attention to this. By the way, he defended our athletes during the meldonium scandal.

"SP": - What could be the consequences for the entire Russian sport?

- The doping scandal as a whole can hit our sports officials. That is what all of Rodchenkov's latest statements are aimed at. Officials speak out, deny everything, claim that they are innocent. But the scandal is huge. And it is the officials, not the athletes, who are to blame. It's time to confess. One of them ( Mutko - auth.) manages the Russian Football Union.

I think this whole campaign is directed against him. Remember Rodchenkov's correspondence - the initials "V.L." ( Mutko's initials - author.). I don't think it is Vladimir Lenin. As far as I know, Mutko even Infantino ( Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA - author.) advised not to stick out. If he had “surrendered” at the very beginning of the scandal, then nothing would have happened.

Kyrgyz weightlifter Izzat Artykov was stripped of his bronze medal due to a positive doping test. A powerful muscle stimulant, strychnine, was found in the athlete's body. But Artykov is far from the first athlete who was caught doping in Rio; entire teams were suspended from the Games.

Russian national athletics team

Perhaps the Russian team got into the biggest scandal at the Olympic Games in Rio.

Russian athletes were suspended from participation in the Olympics due to the disqualification of the national federation.

The reason for the disqualification was the decision that was taken by the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) after the publication of the report of independent expert Richard McLaren.

The investigation was conducted on the basis of the testimony of the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov. The report stated that Russian ministry sports with the help of the FSB has developed a way to replace the "dirty" doping samples of Russian athletes with "clean" ones. As a result, between 2012 and 2015, the test results of 643 athletes from 30 sports were rigged.

In 49 out of 52 positive doping tests of Russian athletes, meldonium was found, which was included in the list of substances prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency from January 1, 2016.

The head of the IAAF, Sebastia Coe, said that in this moment The Russian Athletics Federation cannot be reinstated as an IAAF member because it does not meet the required criteria. And Russian athletes do not have the right to take part in competitions held under the auspices of the IAAF.

However, the international association decided that any athlete who can prove his non-involvement in the systematic substitution of doping samples will be able to get admission to the Olympic Games in Rio. The only Russian athlete who managed to get to the Games was Daria Klishina.

Chinese swimmers

The Chinese team also did not escape the conflict related to doping control.

It all started when the French swimmer Camille Lacour discovered that the urine of the Chinese Sun Yang has purple hue. The Frenchman accused his competitor of taking illegal substances.

Camille Lacourt said that he drew attention to the discharge of his opponent when they were tested for doping. The French swimmer was outraged that Sun Yang was still admitted to the Olympics, despite the obvious evidence.

Earlier, another swimmer, Australian Mac Horton, accused the Chinese. He stated that Sun Yang was cheating with doping tests. It is also known that the Chinese athlete was already officially caught taking banned substances in 2014. Then he was disqualified for three months.

Chinese swimmer Chen Xinyi was also caught doping. The diuretic substance hydrochlorothiazide was found in her blood.

The Chinese woman reached the semi-finals of the Olympics in the 50-meter freestyle, but after being suspended due to doping, she did not start.

Chen Senyi said that she did not know about the discovered doping and asked to double-check the results of the first test. However, the athlete voluntarily withdrew from the Olympics even before receiving the results of the re-test.

Kazakhstan national weightlifting team

The Kazakhstan weightlifting team also found itself at the center of the scandal. Doping tests of four athletes were positive.

Two-time Olympic champion weightlifter Ilya Ilyin was stripped of his license to the Rio Games after a doping test revealed the presence of a banned substance, stanozolol, in the athlete's blood.

Suspicions of doping were also confirmed in three champions of London - Svetlana Podobedova, Zulfiya Chinshanlo and Maya Manez. In this regard, the athletes were suspended from participation in the 2016 Olympic Games.

The Kazakhstan weightlifting team was banned from participating in international competitions for a year after the Olympic Games.

However, the Sports Arbitration Court allowed "pure" Kazakh weightlifters to take part in the Games.

Bulgaria national weightlifting team

The Executive Committee of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) suspended the Bulgarian national team from participation in the 2016 Olympic Games for violating anti-doping rules by several athletes at once.

11 Bulgarian athletes temporarily suspended from competition due to blood anabolic steroid- stanozolol.

Later it became known that the prohibited drug entered the body of athletes along with a food supplement that was contaminated with this substance during the production cycle.