Russia purges doping coaches

Mon, Jul  19, 2010 - By Kjell Erik Kristiansen

Elena Välbe was elected new president of the Russian Ski Federation. Now she tries to improve bad reputation of Russian skiing.

Elena Välbe did not hesitate long and began cleaning inside the federation. She sacked coaches who were involved or linked with Russian doping cases. "We will publish a list of coaches with which we will not cooperate anymore. Among them there are Tchepalova, Yury Smirnov and Viktor Baradavka. But there are also many other regional coaches that will be fired," said the Russian Väble to sports.ru.

Välbe suggests that this will be only the beginning of the fight against doping in Russia. "The athletes themselves have to understand that it is not possible and acceptable to take prohibited substances. The key is discipline, doping is all about discipline. World Championships in Oslo will be big test for us. We must build a team towards the Olympics in 2014 Sotchi," quoted Välbe.

When she was an active skier, doping was a big case in Russia. At the World Championships in Trondheim in 1997, which was absolutely dominated by Välbe with four gold medals, her teammate Lyubov Egorova was tested positive for the agent Bromantan.
Other Russian skiers Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova revealed as cheaters at the Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Contributed by Kjell Erik Kristiansen, langd.se, original article HERE.