Athletes Demand Russia Be Stripped of Hosting Duties

(ATR) Bobsleigh and skeleton athletes are calling for the Sochi world championships to be moved outside of Russia as fall-out continues from the release of Friday’s second McLaren Report.

The Latvian skeleton team issued an official statement that they will boycott February’s International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Championships on the Olympic track in Sochi, while other athletes have protested vehemently on Twitter.

U.S. skeleton competitor and Sochi 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Matt Antoine wrote on his Twitter account: "The actions are undeniable, the proof is in plain sight. The necessity for the IOC, WADA, and IFs to act has never been more paramount."

Multiple top sliding athletes, including Canadian double Olympic gold medalist driver Kallie Humphries, have tweeted the same message: "I want to compete in a World Championships that's drug free and safe for all. Sochi is not an option." They’ve attached the hashtag #SaferThanSochi.

In a statement released to Around the Rings, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) said: "At this point the IBSF does not want to comment on any statement in regards to the social media campaign which started a few days ago.

"Nevertheless we want to reiterate our position for Fair Play and Respect to all which also includes the assumption of innocence for any athlete, regardless of national affiliation, until proven guilty," it read.

An emergency IBSF executive board meeting is reportedly taking place on Monday night and a decision whether to strip Sochi from hosting the Feb.17-26 world championships is on the table.

IBSF president Ivo Ferriani and federation officials have engaged in non-stop conference calls dealing with the burgeoning crisis all day on Monday.

Adding complexity to the difficult situation, Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is a primary sponsor of the Sochi world championships.

Regarding the Latvian boycott, the statement from its Skeleton team read: "Enough time has passed since first public WADA and IOC announcements regarding dirty athletes in our sport."

It continued saying that "more can be done to make it right" and "enough is enough.

"And while our international federation is still going to read and digest the report…we will be glad to race in World Championships at any track of the world, but WE ARE NOT PARTICIPATING in the World Championships in Sochi, Russia."

Latvia had a successful Sochi 2014 Games at the Sanki Sliding Center venue, but lost out to the Russians in two events. The Latvians won silver in the four-man bobsleigh behind Alexander Zubkov and his Russian teammates, while Martin Dukurs slid to a silver medal in men's skeleton, losing gold to Russian Aleksandr Tretyakov.

The release of Friday’s final McLaren Report revealed that more than 1,000 Russian athletes, including numerous medalists from the Sochi 2014 Games benefited from an organized doping scheme, including an intricate scheme to switch dirty samples for clean ones at the Sochi lab. Russia’s gold-medal winning two and four-man bobsleigh teams are among those implicated in documents released as part of Friday’s report by the Canadian law professor.

The samples of 12 Russian medal-winning athletes at the 2014 Games had evidence of tampering and two Russian female ice hockey players provided male urine samples.

Russia won 33 medals at the Sochi 2014 Games, including 13 gold, to lead the medal count.

Russian bobsled driver Alexander Kasjanov won the World Cup opening four-man race in Whistler, Canada on Nov. 26 and seeks to make it two consecutive wins this weekend in Lake Placid, New York.

U.S. hurdler turned bobsledder Lolo Jones offered the following analogy on the escalating doping scandal on her Twitter account: "Most athletes have no desire to point fingers at Russian athletes. That's like being mad at a flat tire and the car engine is on fire."

Lolo Jones’ U.S. teammate and two-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor wrote: "Can we and should we trust drug testing for a World Championships held in Russia?

"Our World Champs are being hosted in Russia, with these concerns we need them moved for our safety," she tweeted.

The IBSF junior world championships take place in late January. The bobsledders compete in Winterberg, Germany, while the skeleton sliders race in Sigulda, Latvia. It would seem that the IBSF could potentially move the Sochi world championships to one or both of these tracks.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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