MOSCOW: Accusations that four Russian gold-medal winners at the Sochi Olympics used performance-enhancing drugs are just “speculation,” Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said Saturday.
The allegations were made by former Russian anti-doping officer Vitaly Stepanov, who said the former head of Russia’s drug-testing lab told him he had a “Sochi List” of Russians who competed on performance-enhancing drugs, and four athletes on that list won gold medals in 2014.
Stepanov, who previously revealed widespread doping in Russian track and field, made the allegations about Sochi in an interview with “60 Minutes” due to air Sunday. An excerpt was shown Friday by “CBS Evening News.”
“Stepanov is back on his hobby horse,” Mutko told Russia’s state TASS news agency. “All of his so-called revelations are based on speculation.”
Anti-doping procedures in Sochi “took place under very tight control” and were not Russia’s responsibility, Mutko said, adding that the latest claims were part of a campaign to tarnish Russia’s reputation.
The Moscow anti-doping lab operated on-site testing facilities at the Sochi Olympics and provided staff, although it was under the supervision of the International Olympic Committee.
In November, a World Anti-Doping Agency commission said there was systematic, state-sponsored drug use on the Russian track team, in part based on information provided by Stepanov and his wife Yulia, an 800-meter runner. The track team has since been suspended from international competition.
Athletes and others have called for the WADA investigation to expand beyond track. WADA leaders have said they would consider expanding the investigation if evidence calls for it.
WADA spokesman Ben Nichols said Friday that agency leaders “will watch the (’60 Minutes’) program with interest” but won’t comment until they’ve seen the entire thing.
The WADA Foundation Board meets next week in Montreal with an update on the commission’s investigation and enhancements to WADA’s whistleblowing policy on the agenda.
Russia dismisses Sochi doping allegations as ‘speculation’
Russia dismisses Sochi doping allegations as ‘speculation’
Russell, Antonelli lead Mercedes in one-two qualifying positions for F1’s Australian GP
- Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order
MELBOURNE: Mercedes has revealed its dominant hand during qualifying for Sunday’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell earned his ninth-career pole position Saturday ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli for the team’s 83rd front-row lockout and its first since the 2024 British Grand Prix.
Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order. His pole time, at 1 minute, 18.518 seconds, was almost eight-tenths faster than the nearest non-Mercedes challenger, Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar, who completed the top three.
“It was a great day, we knew there was a lot of potential in the car, but until we get to this first Saturday of the season, you never know,” Russell said. “But it really came alive this afternoon, especially when the track temperatures cooled, we know we tend to favor those conditions.”
Antonelli was relieved to have made it onto the front row alongside his teammate after a crash in final practice at the exit of turn two meant it was a race in the Mercedes garage to get him out for qualifying.
“It’s been a very stressful day. Unfortunately, I went into the wall (in FP3),” he said. “But the guys (in the garage) were the heroes today to put the car back on track.”
Hadjar was impressive by qualifying third on debut for Red Bull, his highest-ever grid position.
“The only thing I can do is take them at the start, but they’re just too fast at the moment,” Hadjar said of Mercedes. “I want to keep my position and a second podium would be cool.”
Ferrari showed it’s neck-and-neck with McLaren on pace, with just one and a half tenths seconds covering the four drivers just beyond the top-three — with Charles Leclerc qualifying fourth, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth respectively, and Lewis Hamilton in seventh.
Racing Bulls showed they’ve taken a step forward over the winter, with New Zealander Liam Lawson eighth ahead of his highly-rated rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad.
The big surprise of the session came from four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen, who triggered red flags at Melbourne’s Albert Park after he lost control of his Red Bull car in braking for turn one in the first half of Q1 and ended in the barriers.
The Dutchman, who was unhurt from the crash, though upset that his brakes locked up, will now start from the back of the grid.
F1 heads into a new era this year, with unprecedented changes across the chassis (car) and power unit, which now feature an almost 50:50 output split between the turbo 1.6-liter V6 engine and electrical energy harvested from the brakes, one that requires a new, often counterintuitive driving style from the drivers.
