World champion in hurdle sprint, the main hope of men’s Russian athletics Sergei Shubenkov passed a positive test for doping. She was taken from a 30-year-old athlete through the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). The analysis revealed a prohibited drug in Shubenkov’s body, but in a minimal concentration. This leaves a chance for a successful outcome of the case. The autopsy of the “B” sample is ahead, and until this moment anti-doping organizations (that is, RUSADA and the federation) have no right to disclose information about the athlete’s problems.
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Contamination of sports nutrition
The test was taken from Shubenkov, according to “Sport Express”, within the framework of out-of-competition control. The exact dates of the autopsy of the “B” sample are still unknown, but most likely this will happen in the near future. Until the athlete was suspended, even temporarily. He does not perform in the winter season, but this is already traditional and has nothing to do with a positive test. Theoretically, the “B” sample may not confirm the “A” sample at all, and then the charges will be dropped automatically. By the way, Minister of Sports Oleg Matytsin will visit Barnaul on Friday, where Shubenkov lives. The visit has nothing to do with the doping business – it is a planned trip, during which the relevant minister will meet with Governor Viktor Tomenko and visit sports facilities in the region. Surely now there will be a meeting with the athlete and his representatives. On Thursday morning, the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) is going to discuss the Shubenkov case.
“We have a presidium scheduled at 9:00,” Mikhail Gusev, a member of the ARAF presidium, sports agent told Izvestia. – This is a scheduled meeting, we meet once a week. There, apparently, we will discuss this story. I am not immersed in it yet and cannot comment on any details.
It is important to note that the minimum concentration of the drug leaves Shubenkov the chances of a successful outcome, even if the B test is also positive. Typically, in such cases, athletes appeal to contaminated sports nutrition or drugs, where, contrary to the label, prohibited substances were found.
True, in this case, you will need to prove your words. For example, if we are talking about a sports food, submit the same jar for analysis, in the case of a medicine – a package of the drug. Also, if we are talking about a medicine, it will be necessary to prove the necessity of taking it, that is, to show a certificate from a doctor. Any paperwork issued retroactively or in a dummy clinic threatens catastrophic problems for the sport as a whole.
But even if test “B” is confirmed, it is almost impossible to believe in the intentional use of doping by Sergei. First, for ethical reasons: who do you have to be in order to accept something when your federation has been suspended for five years already and the Olympic prospects are hanging by a thread?
And secondly, in purely practical terms: Shubenkov has not played for almost a year, he was also going to miss the winter season, and there will be no significant starts in it, except for the Russian championship. Sergei will win the country’s championship, even if he is woken up in the middle of the night after a stormy party. What is the point of accepting something if you are not competing at all and it is not clear when you will start doing it?
Threat to neutrality
In general, there are still a lot of questions in the story with Shubenkov. We will hardly wait for official comments from the athlete and the federation until the autopsy of sample “B”. But it is clear that if Sergey’s reanalysis is also positive, then for Russian athletics it will be a disaster that will jeopardize everyone else. Especially a few months before the Tokyo Games.
After all, Sergei Shubenkov was one of those who recently met with the President of World Athletics Sebastian Coe and asked for pure Russian athletes. His mother is a member of the new ARAF Presidium. And now it turns out that our athletics is once again plunging into some crazy abyss, and whether it will come out from there to appear at the Olympic Games in a neutral status is a big question.
“Our athletic federation is not doing very well now, the restoration process is underway,” said Dmitry Svishchev, State Duma deputy, president of the Russian Curling Federation, to Izvestia. – I know how many measures the new President Pyotr Ivanov is taking to restore relations with the International Federation. This news is unpleasant and will contribute negatively to these relationships. If the investigation really shows that Shubenkov took a banned drug, then he must be seriously punished so that the rest of them do not know. Initially, of course, Shubenkov will have to explain what happened to everyone.
Shubenkov himself, in an interview with Izvestia in June 2020, claimed that Russian elite athletes are 100% pure.
“Our top athletes and people who claim high places at major international competitions definitely don’t use doping,” emphasized Sergei Shubenkov. – Elite athletes are definitely clean, now we need to put things in order in the regions. So that athletes do not abuse drugs at domestic competitions.
Sergei Shubenkov is the only sprinter in the history of Soviet and Russian men’s athletics to win medals of the 110m hurdles world championship. The Barnaul native also has two silver and one world championship bronze medals, and three more victories at the European Championship. He holds the record for Russia at a distance of 110 meters with hurdles (12.92 seconds).