Recently, the lion's share of Russian athletics medals of the highest standard fell on the pupils of the famous school of sports walking, based in the capital of Mordovia. The pride of the nation was considered to be the wards of Victor Chegin, winning titles at all world championships and the Olympic Games of the last decade. Young talents literally appeared like mushrooms after the rain, and all sports fans, in addition to rave reviews about the walkers, paid tribute to the talent of an outstanding coach. That is why the latest doping scandal in athletics caused such a resonance among the public.
A commotion in public opinion
Many ordinary sports fans saw in the person of the Russian national team walkers a kind of outlet, leveling the relative setbacks in other disciplines. Olga Kaniskina became an example to follow, a combination of fragility, perseverance and, according to fans, extraordinary hard work. And male walkers always showed unbending will in the battle not so much with the opponent, but with circumstances that prevented the achievement of the goal.
The Saransk school of athletic walking has always been considered the standard of technology and endurance, where an impeccable move was set as an example for Chinese athletes who dreamed of dropping the Russian team off the podium. However, a doping scandal in athletics, which broke out this year, brought down fans of Russian athletes from heaven to earth. Many of the fans expressed frank disappointment and complained that they unconditionally believed their idols.
Some walkers often missed starts.
In sports of the highest achievements, especially in disciplines requiring incredible endurance, those who do not feel muscle pain when lactic acid is excreted in the body win. Working to the limit, and sometimes beyond physical capabilities, some athletes often wear out their body so much that they prematurely end their professional careers.
Unexpected turn
That is why in 2013, when many Russian top-level walkers refused to participate in the Moscow World Cup, citing injuries, no one suspected something was wrong. Soon, the leaders of the national team Olga Kaniskina and Valery Borchin announced the completion of a sports career, despite the fact that both had not yet turned thirty. And Vladimir Kanaykin and Sergey Kirdyapkin, although they did not announce the end of their careers, however, since then they have not taken part in any start because of health problems. The doping scandal in athletics with the participation of our athletes has opened the veil of secrecy of such numerous and serious injuries.
How does doping affect an athlete’s health?
Consider the example of the Olympic champion in London, Elena Lashmanova, in whose blood metabolites of a dangerous and potentially deadly chemical were discovered that have not yet passed the entire cycle of clinical trials. So, a Russian woman can be called a kind of experimental rabbit in the battle of pharmacological companies. However, all of the above athletes also performed under the guidance of the same specialist, and no one will guarantee that fatal doping was taken by Lashmanova alone. Just samples were taken at different times. That is why many parents of future potential champions are no longer attracted by such an aesthetic, but dangerous from a health point of view, sport as athletics. The doping scandal only further exposed all the existing shortcomings and heels in the development of this sport.
The essence of the scandal
In January 2015, the anti-doping committee announced the discovery of a prohibited substance in the blood of five leading walkers of Russia. So, Olga Kaniskina, Valery Borchin, Sergey Kirdyapkin, Vladimir Kanaykin and Sergey Bakulin were convicted of illegal use of chemicals in the period from July to September 2009, and also from July to November 2011. According to the rules of the international federation, athletes must give away the awards won at that time, as well as undergo a disqualification, which depends on the severity of the guilt (upon initial or repeated detection). Therefore, the doping scandal that happened in athletics leads to thoughts about the reluctance of athletes to subsequently relinquish the powers of Olympic champions. That is how Kaniskina and Borchin’s statements on the completion of her sports career are regarded, because the medals of Beijing 2008 and London 2012 turned out to be “clean”. But who knows how the war of pharmacology and the anti-doping committee can turn into an eternal “who whom” race?
Controversial statement
Many skeptical people argue that doping is used by all top-level athletes, but only Russians are caught, and that is for political reasons only. That’s why another loud doping scandal in athletics flared up. The Russian team has become only a kind of bargaining chip in political games. However, this is a controversial statement based on speculation. And if we look at the statistics on the detection of doping in the blood of professional athletes, it turns out that the Russians come across illegal drugs by no means more often than the Americans or the British.
And what is the recognition of the athletes of the former German Democratic Republic, who told the whole world how the gold medals of East Germany were forged in the socialist years. Therefore, the next scandal in athletics and the disqualification of athletes do not now seem something out of the ordinary. By the way, scandals with the use of prohibited drugs in the "Queen of Sports" happen with enviable regularity, regardless of the citizenship of the guilty athletes.
Chemical doping
Earlier, in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century, scandals raged against convicting athletes in the use of prohibited steroids and anabolics, which extremely increased endurance in cyclic sports. First, athletes passed doping tests after the competition selectively, and the more often the positive results were shown, the more temptations the leaders of the anti-doping committee were to introduce the mandatory test procedure. So, in the 90s, all the winners of major competitions without fail after the finish passed urine for a doping test. It was not difficult for anti-doping laboratories to identify prohibited substances in athletes.
Gene doping
And now in the blood of our walkers it was by no means discovered steroids or anabolics. So the amazed public is surprised to hear about the next doping scandal in athletics, what are these substances that can be discovered after a few years? Prohibited substance is a type of gene doping that can be found by examining the information on the athlete’s biological passport. That is why we talked about the eternal struggle of pharmacology and laboratories. Doctors are developing more and more new forms of illegal drugs, and laboratories are trying to find and neutralize them.
Loud recognition
Seeing how a new doping scandal erupted in Russian athletics, the amazed public and the press immediately remembered the unexpected recognition of the Olympic champion in the 800 meter run, Maria Savinova. In a documentary filmed in Germany, a runner openly admitted using illegal drugs. In addition to the famous runner, other less well-known athletes who spoke about the intricacies of Russian high-performance sports took part in the film. Then, Russian athletics (the doping scandal in it in particular) was considered by German authors from the point of view of a massive violation of the anti-doping code, which was often covered by Russian officials. So, according to the authors of the film, officials allowed disqualified athletes to take part in individual starts. It was told how the authorities allow punished athletes to attend the training camp during the period of disqualification, in addition, they pay all expenses from the treasury. The film mentioned the fraud of some results, false statements by top officials. As well as permission to participate in sports structures for those athletes who at one time were caught using doping.
Athletics doping scandal: whose heads fly in the Russian leadership?
It turns out that with the easy hands of officials, former "unclean" athletes can occupy leadership positions or even hold a coaching post? If all this is true, then it becomes very clear why the scandal with the Mordovian walkers was followed by the resignation of the heads of the federation, but not Victor Chegin. Valentin Balakhnichev (head of the All-Russian Athletics Federation) voluntarily resigned, and head coach of the athletics team Valentin Maslakov resigned, unable to withstand the shame. None of the higher officials “asked” Viktor Chegin, the coach of the Mordovian walkers, from his position. Probably, he is going to continue to grow a new galaxy of talented stars, only with what methods?
Inability of top management to influence the situation
Thus, athletics (the doping scandal played an important role) exposed the problems of the top sports leadership, which could not influence the regional federations. Or sports officials turn a blind eye to the state of things. By the way, Valentin Balakhnichev once complained about how difficult it is for him, as the head of the athletics federation, to influence representatives of regions that are actually engaged in arbitrariness. Well, these are the realities of modern Russian sport, when our authorities promise sportsmen and their mentors golden mountains for medals of the highest dignity. What does not occur in the federations of other countries, where prize money is sometimes purely symbolic, and advertising campaigns are the main source of income for athletes.
"Achievements" by Victor Chegin
Few people know that on the account of trainer coach Viktor Chegin, in addition to countless medals of the highest standard, 24 are already disqualified for a doping athlete. Just until now, representatives of the so-called second tier, athletes on the way to the national team, have been more often caught. A new doping scandal in athletics of Russian athletes as a whole could jeopardize. And if earlier isolated cases with second-tier walkers cast a shadow purely on Russian athletic walking, then the elite, which has stained itself in the last scandal, tarnishes the entire track and field sphere of Russia. Foreign sports stars are already advocating the removal of Russian athletes from all international competitions. And Viktor Chegin, meanwhile, despite the ban on coming as a member of the Russian delegation to one of the largest competitions in Zurich, arrives there informally. In addition, he freely gets to the power points of athletes.
Athletics Doping Scandal and Athlete Disqualification: Deadlines
What did our eminent walkers receive as punishment for the use of prohibited substances? Olga Kaniskina, who completed her sports career, along with Kirdyapkin and Bakulin, received 3 years and 2 months of disqualification in connection with an isolated case of abnormal tests. Valery Borchin (also ending his career) is suspended from performances for 8 years. But Vladimir Kanaykin suspended from the competition for life. Someone had doubts about how honest Russian athletics are with their fans? The doping scandal debunked the views of the average layman about the "purity" of victories and competitive honesty.