On December 9, the WADA executive committee accepted the recommendation of the compliance committee to strip Russia of the right to participate in major international sports competitions for a period of four years. According to the world champion in speed skating Ivan Skobrev, making such decisions, the organization uses double standards.
“On the one hand, WADA protects athletes. But how do they protect them? Some of our athletes received admission to the past Olympic Games in South Korea only a few days or even hours before the start of the competition. No matter how strong an athlete is, how can he live in such stress without realizing whether he will be allowed to perform or not? What help does WADA provide? ”Said Skobrev.
Speaking about the decisions of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the skater also recalled his own disqualification of 2017.
“Even if I talk about the accusations in my direction, I competed for twenty years, trained with a variety of specialists, including American, Italian and Dutch, and all my doping tests were mainly taken abroad. And still, there was some inappropriate Rodchenkov with his list, who decided that I was part of a group of dubious athletes from Russia. This is an unpleasant story, and we have many of them, ”he said.
The athlete also said that because of WADA decisions, athletes are faced with pressure that prevents them from training and preparing for competitions.
“Neither I, nor our sports leaders deny that any manipulations were carried out. But you can’t scratch everyone under one comb and create conditions of such tension, when the athlete needs to prepare, has to think about how to improve his performance, and instead he has to think about what the next hearing will be and what to say on it. At the same time, in addition to the truth, there is basically nothing to say, because it is recorded in the protocols that we pass with doping tests abroad. This, of course, is crazy. If WADA has a desire to really help athletes, so help, and do not bother the guys getting ready for the Games and creating real competition, ”he added.
Skobrev stressed that the removal of Russian athletes will play into the hands of foreign athletes, as they will have fewer competitors.
“It is obvious that foreign athletes will not worry about the fact that they will remove additional competitors. But our sport will lose much because the best forces will not go to the Olympic Games. The question arises whether to fly under a neutral flag or not. But for me, even such a question is not worth it, because for most athletes, participation in the Olympic Games is the main event in life, ”said the skater.
According to him, the decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency may break the fate of a generation of athletes.
- Skobrev about the decision of WADA: “It smells like genocide”
“Someone can get out two or three times and speak at the Olympics. I went to the Games three times, but I did great only in 2010. And this is only crazy crazy talented athletes can keep a high level for many years. But for most of us, I repeat, the Olympics happen once in a lifetime, once in a career, and breaking these fates and a whole generation of athletes, and then those guys who would watch these athletes on TV screens, is not even inhumane , it smells of genocide, ”he added.
Speaking about the prospects of the Russian national team, Ivan Skobrev admitted that playing in a neutral status would leave an imprint on the reputation of the Russians.
“I am sure that the love of fans from Russia who come to support the guys will not be weaker, but the athletes still see how other athletes look back at them. It’s like a kind of stain on you. You are not like everyone else with symbolism, but like a neutral athlete. Neutral from what? Why neutral? Neutral why? Of course, the guys will have such questions. But I wish them, on the contrary, to have patience and anger, and if they manage to speak at the Olympics, they will give more, ”he said.
“I do not really understand the legal component of this issue. Here, specially trained people should understand what is legitimate and what is not, because the situation itself is absurd. There was so much time to solve all this, to give the guys the opportunity to test. Moreover, I’m sure that most of them were tested abroad in order to eliminate all these misunderstandings between our athletes and WADA, ”he said.
Skobrev noticed that since the problem was not given due attention, too much time was wasted.
“But all the same, we are waiting for the point of no return, when there is really no time left to challenge, and there is no possibility to drive the athletes into a corner either. It is clear that the reputation of the country and the sport is suffering, but the fate of the guys who have put their whole life in order to achieve results and now don’t know what solutions to wait for them is suffering, ”he added.
The skater has no doubt that the majority of Russian athletes are “clean”.
“Instead of helping, WADA instills hatred of this organization and our country as a whole. Perhaps this will somehow unite us, and those athletes who will be allowed to participate in the competition will only give additional strength. I am sure that ninety-odd percent of athletes from our country are “clean”. Proven cases of doping manipulation do not yet indicate that it was systemic, what happened to everyone, and even more so when nothing has been proven yet. Therefore, it’s clear that there is some kind of struggle against our country, including the political one, and for this, among other things, sports are also used, ”he added.
The athlete also emphasized that sport should remain out of politics.
“I want to hope for peace in the whole world and, especially, for peace in sports. So that all those who are innocent prove their innocence. Well, those who are to blame should be punished, these cases should be dealt with so that not only our guys, but also athletes around the world would not make such mistakes. Sport is higher than this, and I don’t want to think that my children, who also play sports, may face similar problems. At every opportunity, I repeat that he should remain out of politics so that the basic principles are “Faster, higher, stronger,” the athlete noted.
- Skobrev about the results of doping tests
In conclusion, Skobrev said that the investigation should definitely find the violations of anti-doping legislation to blame for the already proven cases.
“It's hard for me to name the guilty. This should be understood by the investigation and the competent authorities that conduct the investigation in relation to cases that have been proven. But our athletes are definitely not to blame for this, if they deliberately did not take illegal drugs, ”he explained.