The first doping scandal in the USSR was associated with a figure skater. “The use of steroids was sanctioned from above”

Vladimir Afanasiev CHE in Sofia almost cost Klimova’s career. Very soon in doping history Kamily Valieva there will be at least some intermediate result – from day to day RUSADA promises to hold hearings. In anticipation of the verdict, Sport24 recalls the first ever doping scandal with a Soviet figure skater: a year before the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, the career of the incomparable Marina Klimova.Getty ImagesDuet Marina Klimova / Sergei Ponomarenko progressed by leaps and bounds: at his debut European Championship – 1983, the couple took a sensational 4th place. A year later, Soviet figure skaters continued to delight the public, taking the bronze of the Euro and Olympic Sarajevo. Marina and Sergey entered the next cycle as the second pair of the planet, finishing at all the main starts for Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrey Bukin. When Tarasova’s students left amateur sports, it became clear: the gold of the 1992 Games would go to Klimova and Ponomarenko. Looking ahead, let’s say that all these predictions will come true. But on the way to the goal, the skaters had to go through real hell.RIA Novosti Marina and Sergey, who trained with Natalia Dubova, entered the new Olympic cycle as absolute favorites. The skaters confirmed their status for two and a half seasons – World Championship gold in Paris and Halifax, victories at European championships in Birmingham, Leningrad and Sofia. And then there was a shock: Klimova’s A sample from the Bulgarian European Championship showed an abnormal ratio between testosterone and epitestosterone. Based on the data obtained, it was concluded that Klimova was using artificial testosterone, a scandal erupted. American journalists wrote damning articles and even contacted the three-time Olympic champion Irina Rodnina, at that time living in the United States. Rodnina’s comment only seemed to make the situation worse. “I’m not at all surprised. For many years I was centralized at training camps in the USSR and I know that the use of steroids in the training of figure skaters was sanctioned from above. This has been happening in our sport since the early 70s. However, it is not clear to me why dancers need doping. But in single skating, men in pairs also used pharmacological support, but only in the off-season, in August or September, before the start of the competition.Getty Images The International Skating Union unexpectedly came to the rescue: the ISU questioned the fairness of the verdict of the Sofia laboratory and sent a B sample to Cologne. A study of the Germans showed that the test was absolutely clean. According to one version, Klimova owed her salvation at that time to a candidate of medical sciences Sergei Portugalov: they say that the Soviet specialist was a friend of the German professor responsible for the analysis of the sample – this is how sample B became clean. Another version – the Sofia laboratory, which, moreover, did not have IOC accreditation, was really mistaken. Moreover, testosterone has the ability to rise for a short time, which the Soviet side proved. One way or another, shortly before the start of the World Championships in Munich, Klimova was justified. But either because of lost nerves, or because of the fantastic form of the French Duchesne, the Soviet couple lost that tournament. And since the upcoming Olympics were to be held on Duchesne’s home ice, Albertville’s favorites were already brother and sister. A few months before the Olympics, Klimov and Ponomarenko decided on a desperate step – to leave Dubovaya for Tatyana Tarasova. Few people believed in the prospects: as Tarasova recalled, “by that time, Marina and Sergey had rolled back to the third position in the world, they were pushed aside by Usova, Zhulin, and Duchenet.” But, on reflection, Tatyana Anatolyevna agreed to take on new students. The result – in the Olympic season, Klimova / Ponomarenko did not lose a single start, ending their amateur career with absolutely all titles.Rock-n-Sport is the telegram channel of Vladimir Afanasiev. Subscribe!Subscribe to Sport24 channel in Yandex.Zen