Doping Cases and Bans Thread (2016 & 2017)

[Dragon 2,034]

Elena NIKITINA, Mariia ORLOVA, Olga POTYLITSYNA and Aleksandr TRETIAKOV are found to have committed anti-doping rule violations pursuant to Article 2 of The International Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, in 2014, and are disqualified from the events in which they participated. In addition, the four athletes are declared ineligible to be accredited in any capacity for all editions of the Games of the Olympiad and the Olympic Winter Games subsequent to the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014.

 

https://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-sanctions-four-russian-athletes-as-part-of-oswald-commission-findings

[NearPup 3,559]

Silver linning: Martins Dukurs is finally going tonget his long overdue gold medal.

[heywoodu 16,059]

1 hour ago, Nate River said:

Silver linning: Martins Dukurs is finally going tonget his long overdue gold medal.

 

I don't know what you would base that on, but he's been beaten more and more often by a guy who's only getting better (and utterly destroyed him only last week) and has the all-important home track advantage in Pyeongchang. 

[heywoodu 16,059]

This all sucks though. Tretiakov vs Dukurs vs Yun promised to be one of the best fights of the entire Olympics and not seeing Nikitina there is going to be disappointing as well. 

[NearPup 3,559]

7 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

 

I don't know what you would base that on, but he's been beaten more and more often by a guy who's only getting better (and utterly destroyed him only last week) and has the all-important home track advantage in Pyeongchang. 

Because he’s going to inherit the 2014 gold medal.

 

IMO Yun is almost a lock for gold in 2018.

Edited November 22, 2017 by NearPup

[heywoodu 16,059]

19 minutes ago, Nate River said:

Because he’s going to inherit the 2014 gold medal.

 

IMO Yun is almost a lock for gold in 2018.

Ah, yeah. I hope they just leave those two medals vacant and be done with it. 

[dcro 10,210]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

 

I don't know what you would base that on, but he's been beaten more and more often by a guy who's only getting better (and utterly destroyed him only last week) and has the all-important home track advantage in Pyeongchang.

 

Park City is starter's track. Yun is really as much of a favourite as Nikitina based on those results...

 

I hope he gets gold for both 2014 and 2018, the best skeleton racer in history deserves that. Shame that he might again get beaten by a home boy though... And what are we going to see in 2022? That Chinese pop-up athlete winning gold. Gold medals seem to be reserved for a home nation there. Ridiculous.

 

[NearPup 3,559]

21 minutes ago, dcro said:

 

Park City is starter's track. Yun is really as much of a favourite as Nikitina based on those results...

 

I hope he gets gold for both 2014 and 2018, the best skeleton racer in history deserves that. Shame that he might again get beaten by a home boy though... And what are we going to see in 2022? That Chinese pop-up athlete winning gold. Gold medals seem to be reserved for a home nation there. Ridiculous.

 

Park City is a starter’s track but, unlike Nikitina, Yun clearly outdrove the field by a lot.

 

I also don’t think Nikitina will be much of a factor at the Olympics ever again  

[heywoodu 16,059]

50 minutes ago, dcro said:

 

Park City is starter's track. Yun is really as much of a favourite as Nikitina based on those results...

 

 

That's rather unfair to say about someone who, when not even near his current capabilities, beat Dukurs in the longest track of all in St Moritz. Nikitina is an athlete who wins purely based on her start and then having a decent run, Yun fights for gold with a good start (not even that much better than Dukurs) and very capable sliding.

 

Also, this really seems more like a Skeleton Discussion Thread kind of discussion  

[dcro 10,210]

1 minute ago, heywoodu said:

That's rather unfair to say about someone who, when not even near his current capabilities, beat Dukurs in the longest track of all in St Moritz. Nikitina is an athlete who wins purely based on her start and then having a decent run, Yun fights for gold with a good start (not even that much better than Dukurs) and very capable sliding.

 

Also, this really seems more like a Skeleton Discussion Thread kind of discussion  

 

I beg to differ with St. Moritz being a very specific track. While it is the longest, start is still very important. I mean, how else can you explain Mirela Rahneva winning women's race last season with a huge margin (one of the best starters with very little experience on European tracks...).