Hammer thrower Sergei Litvinov said he helped doping investigations and recently referred his case to the anti-doping authority himself. The ex-head of RUSADA suggested that he would not be punished due to the statute of limitations
Photo: Valery Sharifulin/TASS
The bronze medalist of the 2014 European Championships in the hammer throw, the son of the Olympic champion in this sport, Sergei Litvinov, Sergei Litvinov Jr., admitted to using doping before the 2012 Games, which he did not qualify for. The words of the former athlete leads “RIA Novosti”.
Litvinov made a statement on his Facebook page (the social network belongs to Meta Platforms, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow recognized the company as extremist and banned its activities).
“I was doped in 2012 and benefited from the cover-up system [допинга] in Russia. From the end of April to the end of May 2012, I took turinabol and oxandrolone. Before that, I had a 79m throw in February, with doping I improved by almost 2m. The hammer flew further without good feel or good technique. At that moment, I felt it was wrong,” Litvinov, 36, wrote.
The athlete said that “following that year he did not take anything.” “When the doping scandal around Russia began to develop, I tried to change the state of affairs in my country for the better and assisted in investigations similar to those led by [немецкий журналист] Hayo Seppelt. In recent months, I have turned over all the details of my case to the AIU (Athletics Anti-Negativity Authority). I want to apologize to the athletics community,” Litvinov said.
Litvinov did not qualify for the 2012 Games at the Russian Championship.
Former Acting General Director of RUSADA Anna Antseliovich said TASSthat Litvinov may not be punished for doping. “We do not know when the international federation took up the case of Sergei Litvinov. <...> Now, under the anti-doping rules, the statute of limitations for doping violations is ten years. Therefore, we can assume that Litvinov will not be punished in the end, ”Anceliovich said.
According to her, former athletes in the West quietly admit to using doping, because they are not afraid of punishment due to the statute of limitations.
Litvinov is a two-time winner of the European team championship as part of the Russian national team and a bronze medalist of the 2013 Universiade, the champion of Russia in 2013.
The athlete’s father, Sergei Litvinov, won the 1988 Olympics, took silver at the 1980 Games, and twice won world championships.
Litvinov Jr. also has German citizenship, where he moved with his mother in 1995, at the junior and youth level he represented Belarus, then Germany, and since 2010 he has played for Russia.