Russian agency plans to suspend figure skater over doping document forgery: sources

[Tolstoj]

Masha was foolish. Terrible way to end her career. But heres the question is there any chance Russian and their figure skating team get banned from the next winter olympics? Another question is will they be OAR again?

Shame on Putin and his guys for not cleaning this up years ago. Sochi was almost 7 years ago.

Honestly i don't think there should be another OAR if we find out there is more.

Athletes should compete independently yes but with no relation to Russia in any form as the other independent athletes. It's very embarassing we're still talking this after Sochi.

Frankly given the precedents it's fair to ask, was she alone in this? or will we find other positive athletes if WADA starts to dig deep?

 

[Scott512]

Honestly i don't think there should be another OAR if we find out there is more.

Athletes should compete independently yes but with no relation to Russia in any form as the other independent athletes. It's very embarassing we're still talking this after Sochi.

Frankly given the precedents it's fair to ask, was she alone in this? or will we find other positive athletes if WADA starts to dig deep?

It's the Olympics they have to represent a nation. I think Russia's best hope is to be OAR the next two Olympics.

Marsha was alone in this it was her negligence. Her not giving a f*** because her career was done and she wanted to lose weight before her wedding. Everyone keeps wondering when will Russia get away from all of this cheating crap. I feel sorry for their great athletes who are super clean.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

She was still an active athlete. Her "not prepping for competition," "apparently moved on with her life" is not a valid excuse. She has to take an anti-doping class yearly like all the other RUS athletes given by RUSADA of all people. So she should know better, ignorance is not a defense. Sorry if I don't drop any tears for her woes.

Ten years is the sum of all her charges, "forgery" being the worse one. Stop at offense 1, at least stop at offense 2, why commit offense 3? Next time, be smarter. And the fed isn't giving her the sentence, RUSADA is.

Like I said, when RUSADA came to her door and found her on the 4th attempt, she should have slammed the door in their faces after she told them she was retired, went to her computer and filed the paperwork. Then she only would have had the 3 missing tests and a refusal but no, she gave a drug sample, which she failed, and proceeded to commit forgery, no matter if it was intentional or not. She dug herself in a hole, now she can serve her sentence when it becomes official.

Yeah, but like, she didn't actually commit forgery. It was just that the clinic didn't have a license (which, isn't really her fault is it?) But yeah Masha could've just handed in her paperwork and none of this would've happened.

 

[thesoundofice]

I fully understand the reasons behind this decision, but I'm still convinced of the fact that the punishment is too harsh. By acting so silly, Sotskova has mainly damaged herself, her reputation and potentially her health. On my opinion, she didn't really bring shame on the sport itself, or at least I don't feel offended this way, while I understand other may feel so.
The way I see it, figure skating is one of those few sports in which the use or abuse of a certain prohibited substance doesn't actually lead to a certain improvement of the performance.It's true, Furosemide it's helpful for weight loss, but it could also damage your health if you don't need to take it. Still, I can't see how weight loss can be the ultimate solution. Being lighter might help in executing jumps, but there also other important variables to consider. The simplest one: if due to puberty or injuries, an athlete temporarily loses the ability to perform certain elements, weight loss doesn't automatically helps restoring said elements. Sotskova shouldn't have taken the situation so lightly but she will face the hardest consequences.
Ten years is so much time for basically not having handed in the right paperwork on time. Shouldn't she just pay a fine? Maybe I'm too simplistic but I'm not an expert of russian figure skating federation

 

[Amei]

I don't know if the article explains this, but doesn't the clinic have the license in general or wasn't the medical certificate valid because Maria didnìt have a TUE for that substance? Thank you!

My assumption on that portion is that RUSADA has a list of doctors/clinics that are certified with them for agreements of care that with athletes they are prescribing things that are medically necessary for the athlete and not being a pill pad and

I fully understand the reasons behind this decision, but I'm still convinced of the fact that the punishment is too harsh. By acting so silly, Sotskova has mainly damaged herself, her reputation and potentially her health. On my opinion, she didn't really bring shame on the sport itself, or at least I don't feel offended this way, while I understand other may feel so.
The way I see it, figure skating is one of those few sports in which the use or abuse of a certain prohibited substance doesn't actually lead to a certain improvement of the performance.It's true, Furosemide it's helpful for weight loss, but it could also damage your health if you don't need to take it. Still, I can't see how weight loss can be the ultimate solution. Being lighter might help in executing jumps, but there also other important variables to consider. The simplest one: if due to puberty or injuries, an athlete temporarily loses the ability to perform certain elements, weight loss doesn't automatically helps restoring said elements. Sotskova shouldn't have taken the situation so lightly but she will face the hardest consequences.
Ten years is so much time for basically not having handed in the right paperwork on time. Shouldn't she just pay a fine? Maybe I'm too simplistic but I'm not an expert of russian figure skating federation

I agree that the punishment is probably too harsh, her as well as the other Russian athletes that get caught using banned substances are going to be made examples of to prove the RUSADA is cleaning up their country's athletes. Diuretics aren't banned because they can cause weight loss, they are usually banned because they are considered "masking agents" where it flushes out something else they aren't supposed to be taking that is performance enhancing.

But Sotskova didn't just fail to hand in the right paperwork in a timely fashion but she missed 3 tests, failed another and handed over incorrect/forged documents. Based on the evidence that's been disclosed at this point all there's no defense for Sotskova after she didn't hand in her paperwork after the first missed test, and instead continued to miss tests and then fail another test. I mentioned in the Russian Ladies thread when this story came out - I wonder if she originally was just going to take a break from competitive skating, but then found out that she failed a test and retired thinking it would stop any investigation because otherwise why continue to miss drug tests and have these incorrect/forged documents.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Ten years is so much time for basically not having handed in the right paperwork on time. Shouldn't she just pay a fine? Maybe I'm too simplistic but I'm not an expert of russian figure skating federation

After further thought, I suspect this might just be a way for the Russian Fed to show that they are being tough on PEDs without actually meaningfully punishing an active athlete. I'd be surprised if any of the current top three Russian women would get this lengthy of a ban under similar circumstances.

 

[thesoundofice]

My assumption on that portion is that RUSADA has a list of doctors/clinics that are certified with them for agreements of care that with athletes they are prescribing things that are medically necessary for the athlete and not being a pill pad and


I agree that the punishment is probably too harsh, her as well as the other Russian athletes that get caught using banned substances are going to be made examples of to prove the RUSADA is cleaning up their country's athletes. Diuretics aren't banned because they can cause weight loss, they are usually banned because they are considered "masking agents" where it flushes out something else they aren't supposed to be taking that is performance enhancing.

But Sotskova didn't just fail to hand in the right paperwork in a timely fashion but she missed 3 tests, failed another and handed over incorrect/forged documents. Based on the evidence that's been disclosed at this point all there's no defense for Sotskova after she didn't hand in her paperwork after the first missed test, and instead continued to miss tests and then fail another test. I mentioned in the Russian Ladies thread when this story came out - I wonder if she originally was just going to take a break from competitive skating, but then found out that she failed a test and retired thinking it would stop any investigation because otherwise why continue to miss drug tests and have these incorrect/forged documents.

Thanks for your explanation, I admit that my judgement might have been a bit naive. In particular, I didn't know that diuretics could be used as as "masking agents" while it is obvious that taking diuretics helps to eliminate faster any evidence of other prohibited drugs. This makes the whole situation even worse..
Anyway, ten years sounds more like an exemplary punishment to me, considering the fact that Sotskova is now retired.

After further thought, I suspect this might just be a way for the Russian Fed to show that they are being tough on PEDs without actually meaningfully punishing an active athlete. I'd be surprised if any of the current top three Russian women would get this lengthy of a ban under similar circumstances.

I agree with you..

 

[beachmouse]

Guessing at the math here, I could see it being treated as two offenses- the whereabouts failure followed by an attempt to cover up a positive test.

Offense 1- 2 year suspension from competition, which is not unreasonable in the greater sporting world where athletes commonly can have a decade at top level if mind and body allow

Offense 2- a 4 year ban for attempting to cover up a failed drug test, which is an expected sanction in the current climate. Since this counts as a second sanction, it is allowed that the penalty be doubled (Sun Yang case in swimming recently and IIRC, Justin Gatlin's second doping offense), which makes it 8 years total for the second offense.

Doping bans served consecutively gets you the ten years.

There was a lot I enjoyed about her skating and wish her well in the new phases of her life as on old door has firmly closed.

 

[Sabrina]

I loved Maria as a skater, and I am sad she did these stupid things. If she was not competing why taking Furosemide? Does she have heart failure or other ailment that requires a water pill? Why should you use such a powerful diuretic if you are retired? She is so young, I doubt she has any condition requiring this drug. And 10 years ban??? That is HARSH.

 

[nussnacker]

I loved Maria as a skater, and I am sad she did these stupid things. If she was not competing why taking Furosemide? Does she have heart failure or other ailment that requires a water pill? Why should you use such a powerful diuretic if you are retired? She is so young, I doubt she has any condition requiring this drug. And 10 years ban??? That is HARSH.

Wrote that before, I assumed she might have took it to slim down for her wedding.