Russian Olympian’s shirt said ‘I don’t do doping.’ Her drug test said something else.
So much for the shirt.
Russian bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva, 30, tested positive for doping following a Sunday drug test, the Russian Bobsled Federation’s president told the Associated Press on Friday.
This despite the fact that Sergeeva showed off a sweatshirt that said “I don’t do doping” earlier this month in an “unofficial advertisement” for ZaSport, which supplies Russian Olympic athletes’ clothing, VICE reports. The video, which had been posted on YouTube, was “removed by the user.”
Earlier this week, Sergeeva argued that she and other Olympic athletes from Russia — which has been barred from the games — should get to wear their country’s flag in Pyeongchang.
“If we are here, and we are clean,” Sergeeva told Yahoo Sports at the games after she and her bobsled partner finished 12th on Wednesday. “We should be able to walk under our flag.”
Russian athlete who wore “I don’t do doping” shirt busted for doping: https://t.co/ipzu1dewoU pic.twitter.com/qfUeYk6qaE
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) February 23, 2018
Russia had been banned from participating as a nation in this year’s winter games after investigators said they uncovered a vast and government-sanctioned doping program to boost the country’s competitors during the 2014 games, AP reports.
Sergeeva has denied using the drug, The Guardian reports: “She confirms she took no such medication and the team confirms she was not issued any medication,” Russian Bobsled Federation president Alexander Zubkov said in a statement.
The failed test makes Sergeeva the second athlete from Russia to test positive for doping during the Winter Olympic games this month in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“The Bobsled Federation of Russia and the athlete herself understand the extent of their responsibility, and also understand that what has happened may impact the fate of the entire team,” the country’s bobsled federation said in a statement.
The drug Sergeeva tested positive for, a stimulant called trimetazidine, is generally used as a heart medication, Time reports. Sergeeva and fellow russian Alexander Krushelnitsky, a curler, are the only two athletes at the game to test positive for prohibited doping drugs. The curler’s bronze medal was revoked after he was caught using the drug meldonium.
This story was originally published February 23, 2018 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Russian Olympian’s shirt said ‘I don’t do doping.’ Her drug test said something else.."