Russian curling bronze medallist faces doping charge

Russian curling bronze medallist faces doping charge

Suspected doper Aleksandr Krushelnitckii (right) and Anastasia Bryzgalova, his wife and curling mixed doubles partner step up on the dais to receive their (now-tainted) bronze medal. (Soobum Im-USA Today Sports via Reuters)
Suspected doper Aleksandr Krushelnitckii (right) and Anastasia Bryzgalova, his wife and curling mixed doubles partner step up on the dais to receive their (now-tainted) bronze medal. (Soobum Im-USA Today Sports via Reuters)

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: Russia could lose its chance to be reinstated before the end of the Winter Olympics because of a doping charge against curling bronze medallist Alexander Krushelnitsky.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said in a statement Monday that it has "initiated a procedure involving" Krushelnitsky, who finished third in mixed doubles with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams says a failed doping test could keep Russia's banned team from marching under the national flag at the closing ceremony.

Russian athletes are participating in the Pyeongchang Olympics as "Olympic Athletes from Russia". The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic committee last year in connection with a massive doping scheme at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi but allowed 168 athletes to compete under neutral uniforms and without the Russian national flag.

Adams confirmed the positive test and says it could have "consequences" in evaluating the behaviour of the Russian team, which was required to abide by restrictions -- including bans to some medal favourites -- and to undergo extra drug tests.

Russian curlers said a coach told them that Krushelnitsky tested positive for a banned substance. Women's skip Viktoria Moiseeva said the coach "came to tell us the news" late Sunday.

She added the team wanted to comfort Krushelnitsky and Bryzgalova but "we thought that there are no words to comfort now. We just tried to stay away."

Russian Curling Federation president Dmitry Svishchev told The Associated Press that Krushelnitsky tested clean as recently as January 22, the day before he flew to a pre-Olympic training camp in Japan.

Svishchev said it was possible someone spiked Krushelnitsky's food or drink with meldonium, which was banned in 2016. He suggested that rival Russian athletes or Russia's political enemies could be responsible.

"It can't happen at the Olympic Village because everyone eats the same canteen food," he said. "It could happen at training camp or in the intervening period. ... There's a possibility of it being something within the team, that something happened during training camp, or as a political means to achieve some goal."

The curling team trained in Japan in January, bringing in some Russian athletes who had not qualified for the Olympics as practice partners.

Meldonium is the substance that Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova was suspended for after testing positive at the Australian Open in 2016. Before it was banned, many Russian athletes used the drug, which is designed for people with heart problems and some believe can help athletes increase stamina.

Krushelnitsky's "A sample" tested positive. Adams said a second sample would be tested, and results could be announced within 24 hours.

The Norwegian team finished fourth, and could get the bronze if the positive test is confirmed.

Adams says Russians at the games have undergone "rigorous testing" and adds that "Russians were tested to a significant level more than others."

 (Reuters video)

The case was the talk of the rink at curling.

Though to the uninitiated, the idea of a curler using performance-enhancing drugs may seem bizarre, the sport does demand a high level of athleticism at the Olympic level. Curlers need to have strong core muscles and upper body strength in order to manage the often rigorous sweeping that helps them guide the rock down the ice.

Fitness is even more important in mixed doubles, the event Krushelnitsky was competing in. Because there are just two curlers on each team instead of the four in traditional curling, there is little rest between throws, and both teammates are often heavily involved in sweeping.

"It's physically demanding out there. It's not like you don't need any muscles," said Swiss curler Silvana Tirinzoni, whose team beat the Russian women's team 11-2 at Monday's round robin. "We have to be fit and we have to be working out. My sweepers are working out like five times a week, go to the gym, so it (performance-enhancing drugs) can help, but we shouldn't do that. I think that's stupid."

Tirinzoni said if the reports were confirmed, they would be disappointing. But she said she still had no reservations about playing against the Russian athletes on Monday.

"I think clean athletes have the right to compete," she said. "It's not about me to make those kind of decisions. So I believe the team we played today, they are as clean as we are."

Aleksandr Krushelnitckii of the Russian team is seen in action during his mixed doubles curling bronze medal game at the Gangneung Curling Centre (James Lang-USA Today Sports via Reuters)

Earlier report:

Alexander Krushelnitsky, a bronze-medallist along with his wife in mixed-doubles curling, is suspected of having tested positive for meldonium, the source said. Meldonium increases blood flow which improves exercise capacity in athletes.

Krushelnitsky did not respond immediately to a request for comment. A spokesman for the Russian delegation at Pyeongchang said he had no immediate comment.

Russia has been accused of running a state-backed, systematic doping program for years, an allegation Moscow denies. As a result, its athletes are competing at Pyeongchang as neutral "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR).

Russian sports officials are to meet anti-doping officers at Pyeongchang, the source said, adding that any violation would only be confirmed after analysis of a "B" sample.

Krushelnitsky and his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova, won bronze in a game against Norway, which would take that medal if a doping violation were to be confirmed."I hope it's not true ... for the sport of curling," said Norwegian team skipper Thomas Ulsrud.

"If it's true I feel really sad for the Norwegian team who worked really hard and ended up in fourth place and just left for Norway and they aren't even here."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it had taken note of the case without going into details.

It said that if the case were to be confirmed, it would be considered by its OAR Implementation panel, the body in charge of monitoring the OAR team's behaviour at the Games.

"On the one hand it is extremely disappointing when prohibited substances might have been used, but on the other hand it shows the effectiveness of the anti-doping system at the Games which protects the rights of all the clean athletes," an IOC spokesperson said.

As neutral athletes, the Russians are unable to have their anthem played in medal ceremonies or use national symbols.

The IOC has said it may allow the Russians to march with the Russian flag and in national uniform at the Games closing ceremony on Feb. 25, provided they will have complied with its code of conduct on neutrality.

The code requires compliance with IOC anti-doping rules.

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