[NATPOST] Tears, jeers as 'cheat' accepts gold
Stephen Dancs
Tears, jeers as 'cheat' accepts gold
Yegorova endures unprecedented protest from crowd
ref.: http://nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010813/643577.html
by Robert Remington, National Post, August 13, 2001
EDMONTON - The boos for Olga Yegorova rained down from the stands
yesterday as the Russian labelled a cheat by some of her fellow
competitors stood on the podium at Commonwealth Stadium to receive the
gold medal she won the previous night amid unprecedented hostility.
Through the catcalls, the 29-year-old remained stoic, waving her bouquet
of flowers at the mocking crowd attending the world track and field
championships.
"It's quite a historic thing to have happened, I think, to have someone
who has cheated to be allowed to run and win," said Joanne Pavey of Great
Britain, who finished 11th in the 5,000-metre women's final, won by
Yegorova on Saturday.
Overnight reflection failed to quell the crowd protests, unique in the
modern history of international track and field. If anything yesterday,
the crowd's disapproval of Yegorova was even louder than on Saturday night
-- even though the stadium was still half empty because the medal ceremony
took place 15 minutes before the start of the day's events. The spectators
stood respectfully for the Russian national anthem, but resumed their boos
at its conclusion.
Saturday's race had become the marquee event at the championships as a
crowd of 47,000 came for what was expected to be a showdown between
Yegorova, the alleged drug cheat, and the blond Gabrielle Szabo of
Romania, the defending Olympic and world champion who weighs 93 pounds and
is dubbed "the little sparrow."
Szabo had threatened to withdraw from the race over Yegorova's alleged
drug use, and had been joined in her criticism by British runners who wore
red ribbons as an anti-drug symbol.
Yet, instead of seeing Yegorova trounced as hoped, the crowd fell almost
silent as Szabo faded on the penultimate lap, leaving Yegorova and a lead
pack of five runners to break away. With 250 metres remaining in the race,
Yegorova made her decisive kick for home and boos rose from the crowd. She
crossed the line 3.2 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Marta
Dominguez of Spain.
Szabo, who won the women's 1,500-metre race earlier in the week, finished
eighth.
"For me she is not the world champion," said Szabo, who appeared to be
near tears after the race. "I have no chance of competing against robots."
As she had all week, Szabo refused to speak Yegorova's name, simply
calling her "the Russian."
Yegorova had been the target of protests all week after the International
Association of Athletics Federations, track's governing body, lifted her
suspension for a positive drug test on a technicality. The IAAF had
suspended Yegorova after a positive test in Paris on July 6 for the banned
hormone erythropoietin (EPO), which increases endurance. It reinstated her
on the second day of the Edmonton games because the French laboratory
tested only her urine, not her blood. Yegorova was also tested here in
Edmonton, but that sample came back negative.
"It's disgusting that she actually ran. I'm sure no one really thinks she
won. Everyone realized it's tainted," said Pavey.
Silver medallist Dominguez disagreed.
"For me it is quite clear the winner is Yegorova," she said at a post-race
press conference Saturday night. Yesterday, she embraced Yegorova and
posed with her for the official photo. Bronze medallist Ayelech Worku of
Ethiopia missed the ceremony after she was given the wrong time by her
team. Officials insisted it was not a protest.
Yegorova, who claims the positive test was flawed, was eloquent in the
face of criticism.
"It's just a piece of metal. If you want, I can just give it to you," she
said after the race to Peter Adler, a translator for The Edmonton Journal.
"The medal itself is not that important, even winning the world
championships is not as important as life."
"I wouldn't say a gold medal is what you'd call stuff of dreams," she said
in another interview, with a Russian newspaper. "A healthy baby is the
stuff of dreams, that's what's important to me," said Yegorova, who has a
daughter. "Luckily, she is too little to understand any of it yet. I just
hope by the time she's big enough to understand any of it, it's all going
to be cleared up once and for all."
Pavey said she felt the week's protests, which included some athletes
holding a sign saying "EPO Cheats Out", were successful.
"Hopefully this is the start of a new era where we'll have a chance to
compete on a level playing field."
--end--
Wally Keeler
news:9l9r5f$h7r$1...@freenet9.carleton.ca...
> Overnight reflection failed to quell the crowd protests, unique in the
> modern history of international track and field. If anything yesterday,
> the crowd's disapproval of Yegorova was even louder than on Saturday night
> -- even though the stadium was still half empty because the medal ceremony
> took place 15 minutes before the start of the day's events. The spectators
> stood respectfully for the Russian national anthem, but resumed their boos
> at its conclusion.
It was so heartening to witness that on the tv. I think Canadians are
especially sensitive to this issue, because a number of Canada's athletes
have been caught doping. They have been caught by Canada's own anti-doping
regime. Canadians have turned against their own immediately when any
athlete's peformance has been proven drug enhanced. So there is no hypocrisy
when Canadians turn against others who use dope. Russian, like most
countries in the world, have half -assed anti-doping regimes at best.
> Szabo, who won the women's 1,500-metre race earlier in the week, finished
> eighth.
Szabo had been in other races and performed exceedingly well and honourably.
It has been suggested that she did not perform as well in this last race
because of the energy spent on the previous races. Yegorova was a one-note
athlete.