Adelina Sotnikova (27, Russia), a gold medalist in women’s single figure skating at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, recently appeared on YouTube and confessed that she had been tested positive for doping during the Olympics, causing controversy. After Sotnikova’s remarks, the Russian Figure Skating Association immediately denied the fact, and even the media that released the video deleted it within a day, causing a stir.
Russian media Sports RBC said on the 6th (Korean time), “The interview with Sotnikova on the doping test, which was a problem, has been deleted. (When entering the video), ‘The user who uploaded the video deleted the video’.”
Previously, Sotnikova appeared on famous Russian influencer Lilia Abramova’s YouTube ‘Tatarka FM’ and said, “During the 2014 Olympics, the first doping test came out positive. I had to be retested and when I opened the second sample, it was negative. I was not punished because of this,” he said. The remarks came during a conversation about Russia’s recent Olympic doping controversy and Kamila Balieva, 17, who tested positive for her test at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.안전놀이터
The final decision may have been negative, but once it came out, you cannot be free from drug suspicion. Moreover, Sotnikova’s doping allegations were not the first. In a 2016 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) doping report on a Russian figure skater, Sotnikova’s urine sample was allegedly tampered with. But in 2017, according to Sports RBC, Sotnikova was removed from her suspected doping list at the request of Gregory Rodchenkov, former director of the Anti-Doping Institute in Moscow, Russia. Neither the Olympic Committee (IOC) nor the International Skating Federation subsequently confirmed further Sotnikova’s doping investigation.
In such a situation, the Russian figure skating world is also surprised when she admits that she tested positive during her doping test with her own mouth after 9 years. Russian Figure Skating Federation general secretary Alexander Cogan jumped up, saying, “I’ve never heard of such a story. It’s nonsense.” However, as the video was deleted in less than a day, it seems that this controversy will not subside easily.
Even if it was not doping, Sotnikova’s gold medal was controversial enough to be evaluated as robbing Kim Yuna (33) of Kim Yu-na (33) at the time of 2014. Sotnikova was just one of the mediocre prospects ranked ninth at the 2013 World Championships before the Olympics. Even at the Olympics, she showed disappointing performances due to lack of rotation and landing mistakes, but she raised controversy by winning her gold medal with a total of 224.59 points, beating Yuna Kim, who received 219.11. Even figure skating legend Katarina Witt criticized her, saying, “This decision was very wrong.” Sotnikova announced her retirement in 2020, having not performed particularly well in her world competitions since her controversial gold medal.