Sotnikova Named as Possible Case of Cheating in Russian Doping Scandal

A scratch on the bottle of Olympic champion’s urine sample indicates possible tampering; however, there’s nothing conclusive so far.

As in recent years and months, accusations of systematic doping in Russia have looked more and more likely, and investigations have turned up evidence. Figure skating has largely stayed out of that conversation. Doping scandals have never been common in figure skating, where the advantages of drugs are much less clear cut than in sports that rely solely on strength and/or speed. But when, earlier this year, a forensic expert examined the bottles of urine samples of Russian athletes who competed in the 2014 Olympics, whispers got out that one of the suspicious bottles belonged to a figure skater.

Back on the 23rd, the International Olympic Committee announced they were opening disciplinary proceedings against 28 Russian athletes whose samples they believed had been tampered with. No names came out then. The International Skating Union released a generic statement saying they were examining all evidence given to them and would open their own disciplinary proceedings as appropriate. Even then, no one knew if the skaters involved weren’t all speed skaters.

But today, names came out. It was a Russian news site, with an English language document, which broke the news first: the list includes Adelina Sotnikova.

Sotnikova Already Controversial Champion

Since the moment she won, Adelina Sotnikova’s Olympic triumph has been a controversial one, though not one that put the blame on her. She finished five points ahead of previous champion Yu-Na Kim. She had more technical content than Kim. But many fans, especially in Kim’s native Korea, cried foul at the two skaters virtually tying in presentation scores. Sotnikova’s program was choreographed to max out her presentation scores, but no one disputes Kim’s superior skating ability and artistry. There was a lot of suspicion that the judges had unfairly favored the home skater.

Sotnikova certainly hadn’t come to Sochi the favorite, or even someone anyone was talking about. She’d finished ninth at the previous World Champions, the only one she’d attended. Her fall results had been good, but not spectacular. The Russian Federation had even snubbed her when choosing the skaters for the team competition. In the individual ladies’ competition, however, she was the Russian lady who delivered. After winning, she withdrew from that year’s Worlds and skipped the entire next season.

She competed again in the fall of 2015, but failed to qualify for anything out of Russian Nationals. She hasn’t competed since. The general thought is she won’t again, especially because her chances of even making the next Olympics are slim.

Evidence of Tampering, But No Proof

There is now overwhelming evidence that for years, Russian officials have run a program that took urine samples given by athletes during competitions and secretly replaced the urine. Usually they would use urine from the same athlete, taken at a time when they would know there’d be nothing in it to find. The design of the bottles is such that reopening them to make the switches could result in microscopic scratches to the lids.

A bottle of Sotnikova’s urine had a single such scratch, a long horizontal mark on the inside of the lid. This is not absolute proof that the bottle was even opened after being initially sealed. Also, it was only one mark. The majority of the samples under investigation have multiple marks. They likely cannot do anything based on this single scratch, besides start further investigation. There have been some cases where the sodium content of the urine has also stood as evidence of tampering. Apparently Sotnikova’s sodium count is normal.

It is unlikely we will hear anything further about this for some time. Presumably, right now, investigators are looking for other evidence and context for each of the athletes. It may well be that they’ll be able to find nothing further on Sotnikova. The worst case scenario would be the tampering looking probable, with Sotnikova providing clean urine. Without proof, she will likely remain the winner. Some are calling for the IOC to strip all Russians of their results, but realistically, that’s not going to happen.

Sotnikova Could Lose Gold

If any proof surfaces that Russian officials did indeed switch the urine in Sotnikova’s bottle with urine she provided for the purpose, that should cost her the gold medal. Kim would inherit it. Silver would go to Italian Carolina Kostner, the current bronze medalist. Bronze would go to American Gracie Gold.

(Ironically Kostner herself got caught up in a doping scandal, though not one where she herself was the one doping. Instead she lied to doping officials about the whereabouts of her then-boyfriend Alex Schwazer. Both she and he claim she did not know he actually was doping. She served a ban for the offense which ended at the beginning of this year.)

On the other hand, it’s even possible Russian officials tampered with Sotnikova’s sample without her having any knowledge or involvement. There were cases where they decided after the Games to start the switches, sometimes trying to use someone else’s urine. Since Sotnikova was a surprise winner, it’s far from implausible they might have done so for her. On the other hand, if the urine’s not hers, sooner or later that should definitely come out.

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In short, we may well reach the next Olympics with no idea who won the last one, which would illustrate just how much damage Russia’s covering up of their athlete’s doping is doing to all Olympic sports.