Over the last few years, Olympic ideals and beliefs have been so tarnished and destroyed for two-time world champion Katie Uhlaender that she figured she was done competing altogether.
The skeleton racer from Vail, Colo., finished fourth at the 2014 Olympics, and though the Russian who finished ahead of Uhlaender was later charged with doping and stripped of her bronze medal, that decision was overturned in 2018 and Russia’s Elena Nikitina got her medal back — Uhlaender was fourth again.
"I can describe what it feels like to participate in the Olympic Games and feel like you left everything on the ice, only to discover it was a mirage," said Uhlaender, who’s now 35. "It took away from my whole experience. I think it did for a lot of athletes."
And yet, Uhlaender hasn’t called it a career just yet. She’s back for more, tearing down icy chutes head first. And on Monday, she was making an eight-hour drive across Germany to her next competition while some news in favour of clean sport dropped.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced it has handed Russia a four-year ban from all major upcoming sporting events, meaning that unless there’s a successful appeal, we won’t see Russians competing under their flag or belting out their anthem at events like the Tokyo Olympics or the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But Russians who prove they’re clean can still compete, just like they did at the last Winter Games, under a neutral flag (the Olympic Athletes from Russia won 17 medals in Pyeongchang).
"In theory, it sounds cool, and I think this is the right move," Uhlaender said of WADA’s decision, shortly after arriving at her destination in Germany, just before going to bed ahead of a 5 a.m. training session the next day. "But it’s too late. It’s hard to invest in having any emotion. I’m hopeful that WADA will start taking a firmer line and Russia won’t get away with such — I don’t even know what to say. It was horrific, the doping scandal."
It was, and Uhlaender was closer to it than most. It’s why she doesn’t think WADA’s latest ruling will put an end to the systemic cheating in Russia, because essentially the country hasn’t been punished.
"They said they were going to strip the medals, they gave them back. They said they were going to ban the Russians, they still competed," she said. "I appreciate WADA banning [Russian athletes] but are they taking it seriously? Russia still got medals at the Olympics. Russia still got to keep their medals from the previous Olympics. They’re still getting medals at the Olympic games, which is their goal."
Former Canadian national team luger and Olympic silver medallist Sam Edney believes WADA took a "fair step," but believes the agency didn’t go far enough in its ruling Monday. He’d like to see a full blanket ban on all Russian athletes.
"I believe there are clean athletes in Russia, and it would seem like you’d be ripping those athletes off," Edney said. "But this is the time that WADA had an opportunity to say, ‘Enough is enough. We’re no longer accepting this type of behaviour and activity. Let’s bring it back to the values of clean sport.’ A full blanket ban of all Russian athletes for four years resets the entire thing, in my mind."
Russia was reinstated by WADA in 2018 after a three-year suspension due to the country’s state-sponsored doping operation. But Russia’s anti-doping agency, RUSADA, was found guilty yet again of tampering with results that were submitted in January.
"They had years and every opportunity to make it right. What did they do?" Edney said. "They’re given another chance, they totally disregard that and try and skew the results and try and make it look like they’ve been perfect the whole time. When are we going to say, let’s not even give them another chance?"
Like Uhlaender, Edney has been directly affected by Russia’s systemic cheating. He was on the Canadian squad that came fourth in luge’s team relay event in Sochi, was then upgraded to bronze after the Russian team was busted for doping, and then Canada was bumped back to fourth after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the decision and returned medals to 28 Russians, citing insufficient evidence.
"You’re seeing every Olympics where an athlete is ripped off, or there’s the opportunity to have their moment on the podium and all that effort and hard work that they’ve done is ripped off by someone who’s totally disregarded the true value of sport," Edney said. "I think what WADA did on [Monday] marks a big moment, because it’s the start of true change — I hope."
Yes, one can only hope.
Nordic skiing has been plagued by doping incidents, the most infamous Canadian example involving cross-country skier Beckie Scott, who was upgraded from 2002 Olympic bronze to gold — more than two years after the race — when the Russians who’d finished first and second were disqualified due to performance-enhancing drugs. Yet, we’re still talking about Russia cheating on this stage, "because it hasn’t been solved," said the head coach of Canada’s para Nordic ski team, Robin McKeever, a seven-time Paralympic gold medallist. "It’s ongoing, it’s always the same."
McKeever said he was "happily surprised," to see WADA’s decision Monday, though it’s a cautious brand of happiness. "I will only start to realize the promise of this once the IOC [International Olympic Committee] and IPC [International Paralympic Committee] start making their final decisions based on this WADA review," he said.
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The story is ongoing. So, too, is Uhlaender’s in skeleton. She hopes she can continue to be a voice for clean sport. She’s an advocate for safety for athletes and believes all countries should have an independent organization in place to support its athletes should they need a safe space to discuss any injustices they might be facing — like forced participation in state-wide doping efforts, for example.
Uhlaender made the decision to return to skeleton only this past September, just after she spent 20 days sleeping in a jungle as part of the Amazon Prime series, Eco-Challenge, where she had time for some sober thought. She’s currently competing on the tour just below the World Cup tour, as she’s getting back into shape and easing back into competition after time away.
"I had to think really hard about coming back," she said. "I had to come back for my own reasons, for the love of the sport, for the love of the ride. Because at the moment, if I focus on the Olympics, it feels fake. But the sport is real."
"I didn’t want to end a 16-year career on such a poopy note," Uhlaender added. "I love my sport. I’m devoted to competing clean and hopefully I can be a voice for the athletes who uphold those values."