Russian doping revelations not surprising: Canadian ski coach
'We as a team knew they were most likely doping,' says coach
A report that 14 Russian cross-country skiers at the Sochi Olympics were doping comes as no surprise to the man who coached Canada's team at the last Winter Games.
Justin Wadsworth, who ran Canada's cross-country ski program for most of the past decade, calls the revelations in the New York Times "vindication" for the sport.
"This is the kind of news as the coach of the national team I've been waiting for," said Wadsworth, who recently stepped down as head coach in March. "We as a team knew they were most likely doping due to their performances."
Canada was shut out of the medals in cross-country skiing at the Sochi Games while the host nation won five medals — including a sweep of the podium in the men's 50-kilometre race.
Wadsworth said it seemed fishy at the time and everyone was talking about it after the race.
"When I saw that in the 50K at the Olympics, I was just shaking my head."
He said the way the Russians would come out of nowhere to win medals at world championships and Olympics was an indication that something nefarious was going on.
Wadsworth said it doesn't soften the blow of Canada finishing out of the medals in Sochi, chalking up the team's poor showing to mistakes in waxing. But he said he could see the frustration in the team members when they know they're competing against dopers.
"We know this has been going on in our sport," said Wadsworth, who lives in Canmore, Alta.
Wadsworth's wife, Beckie Scott, was famously awarded a gold medal years after the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics when it was revealed a drug cheat finished ahead of her.
Scott now chairs the World Anti-Doping Agency athletes committee and called for the IAAF and WADA to continue sanctions against Russia's beleaguered track and field team in a speech to anti-doping leaders on Thursday.
The latest news seems to confirm that some results in Sochi were tainted and that clean Canadian athletes were unfairly getting left behind. "There's no question when you compete against athletes who dope, you're at a disadvantage," Scott told CBC Sports by phone.
More Canadian reactions
"I totally, fully support Beckie Scott's statements and what she's doing on behalf of clean athletes in the world," Canadian hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser told The Canadian Press.
What concerned Wickenheiser most was the Times assertion that Russia's "entire women's hockey team was doping throughout the Games."
The Russian women finished sixth in the tournament. Two members of that team were previously Wickenheiser's teammates on the University of Calgary Dinos.
"To see women's hockey implicated is a bit surprising because hockey is not a sport typically with a history of doping in its culture," Wickenheiser said. "That was quite alarming for me to read that."
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport also issued a statement Thursday renewing its call for a ban on the Russian track and field team in Rio. "The update this week by WADA confirms that the shortcomings continue," said Paul Melia, president and CEO of the centre.
"The clean athletes of the world are watching to see if [the IAAF] will exercise real leadership and do the right thing for clean sport."
Wadsworth believes the latest revelations about Russia's winter athletes are further evidence of a systematic doping program in a country that was desperate to win medals ahead of major events.
But he is optimistic now that the tests seem to be catching up with the cheaters.
"It's moving in the right direction to clean up the sport," said Wadsworth.
With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press