Version - coronavirus: Semenenko will replace the sick Kolyada at the Olympic Games in Beijing

On Tuesday, January 25, it became known that the three-time champion of Russia Mikhail Kolyada will miss the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The reason for this decision by the Russian Figure Skating Federation was the athlete's positive test for COVID-19, which Mikhail passed a few hours before departure for the final pre-Olympic training camp in Krasnoyarsk.

The place of the ward of Alexei Mishin was taken by another of his students - Evgeny Semenenko.

Among a good dozen comments on the topic of Kolyada's removal from participation in the Games, the words of the mentor himself sounded most strange.

“The prerogative and the right to announce the composition of the Olympic team belongs to the federation and the Russian Olympic Committee.

That's all I can say," Mishin said.

Such vague formulations, as a rule, immediately give rise to a lot of speculation, the main of which is whether Kolyada actually tested positive for COVID-19?

And if so, when exactly did it happen?

And did the skater still have a chance to keep the Olympic vacancy if subsequent tests turn out to be negative?

Formally, there was such a chance.

The rules of the Chinese side on this matter clearly state: a person who has been ill with a coronavirus must provide two negative tests made at least eight days before the expected departure to Beijing.

In other words, if we assume that Mikhail's fatal test was false-positive and was not confirmed, the skater theoretically had a chance to get to the Games until February 8 - on this day the men will perform in the short program of the individual tournament.

But such a scheme would greatly complicate the team layout for the Russian team, and indeed the entire final stage of preparation.

According to RT, the test that turned out to be positive was made in St. Petersburg, and in order to retake it, there was simply no time left: the application deadline came in a matter of hours, some of which was eaten by the time difference between St. Petersburg and Beijing.

Taking Kolyada along with other skaters to Krasnoyarsk would be a violation of all existing rules and, moreover, a big risk.

Postponing the replacement of an athlete with a substitute (in this case, with Evgeny Semenenko) was also not allowed by the deadlines.

And this, again, would be an unjustified risk: what if Kolyada's subsequent tests also show a "plus"?

Stay at the Games with two athletes instead of three?

Another thing is important, this season Kolyada is not the leader of the national team, for the sake of which one could make some exceptions to the general rules. In his current state, he's more like a pig in a poke. The reason for the skater's removal from the European Championship remained unclear: either there really was an injury, or Mikhail simply did not have time to prepare and considered it best to miss this start.

At the December national championship, we recall, Kolyada failed the short program, finishing fifth. He won the free skate, but the advantage over Andrey Mozalev and Mark Kondratyuk turned out to be quite small in this box office. How effective Kolyada’s January training sessions were, history is silent, but we can assume that not too much: after the New Year, the skater (according to the coach) did not skate due to an injury, then Mishin left for Tallinn for a week, after (again, according to specialist) malaise occurred, culminating in a positive test. Accordingly, at the moment there are no prerequisites at all for considering Kolyada a more valuable unit than Kondratyuk, Mozalev or Semenenko.

And it turns out that the removal of Mikhail from the main start of the season, if a drama, is only for himself. Sport in this regard is quite tough: for the country's sports leadership and for all potential participants in the team figure skating tournament, it is important that the tournament takes place and the result in it is as high as possible. Who exactly will produce this result is a completely secondary question.

Moreover, now the choice is much easier. Still, many factors spoke in favor of including Kolyada among the participants in the team tournament, if he went to Beijing, even if he was not in the best shape: the athlete is the most experienced, in his career there were a lot of podiums of major competitions, Mikhail, moreover, judges traditionally love, which in the aggregate, in a certain sense, would be a guarantee of a high second mark. Plus, the presence of Kolyada in the commander could become a kind of curtsey towards his coach. All of the above is rarely voiced officially, but just as rarely not taken into account. Now the topic is closed. Apparently, finally and irrevocably.

Is this a loss for world figure skating?

Undoubtedly.

Mikhail is a figure skater from God, he has many fans around the world, and two Olympic programs are so successful that they could become an ornament to the Beijing tournament even if Kolyada had remained outside the medal trio.

But you should not despair about this, if only because the March World Cup is ahead.

And if the Olympic chances of the three-time Russian champion did not seem too high this season, it may well turn out that Kolyada will be the favorite at the world championship in Montpellier.

Isn't that a goal worth striving for?