NPR – Aleksandr Krushelnitckii, who won a bronze medal in mixed doubles for the Olympic Athletes from Russia curling team, is under suspicion of doping, after reportedly failing a preliminary control test at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
The result hasn’t been confirmed; Russian news outlets are reporting that Krushelnitckii’s “A” sample had tested positive for meldonium in a preliminary test, and that his “B” sample would be tested to confirm or refute the result. That test is being carried out around midday Monday in South Korea — Sunday night in the continental U.S.
The fact that a Russian athlete failed a drug test should come as a surprise to…well, nobody. The sport that the athlete plays, however, is where the surprise comes. Curling. Let me say that again. Curling. A curler has been accused of doping. I’ve gone curling one time, so I’m pretty much an expert on the physical toll that sport takes on the body. I don’t care who you are. If you’re an Olympic athlete, you’re obviously in elite physical shape. If you dope, you’re looking for that extra edge. But what edge are you looking for in curling? Stamina? I don’t see it. And other curlers are echoing that opinion. From an article from the Independent:
“I think most people will laugh and ask, ‘what could you possibly need doping for?’, as I am thinking,” Madeleine Dupont, skip for the Denmark rink, told Reuters. “I‘m not even sure what use doping would be for in curling.”
“There is probably something with strength, I‘m not sure, it’s not down my alley.”
A similar reaction has been seen among Krushelnitsky’s Russian teammates.
“We’ve always said how great it is that we have a sport where scandals don’t happen because we really don’t need it,” said Viktoria Moiseeva, skip of the Olympic Athletes from Russia women’s team. “With us it’s not faster, higher, stronger , it’s about being more accurate.
“I can’t imagine what kind of drugs you could use in curling, and for what.”
With other curlers having this kind of reaction, my gut feeling is that this may be nothing more than a false positive. I hope that’s the case and the “B” sample will come back negative. But if the result is confirmed, it would be yet another unneeded black mark on Russian athletes.
