The athlete passed a positive test right during the tournament. Violation is serious, but for some reason everyone is silent.
The Beijing Olympics was left behind, but the news regarding the discovery of doping among its participants will surely blow up the information space more than once. Already at the end of the Games, it became known that a prohibited drug was found in the sample of a famous figure skater. At the tournament in Beijing, by the way, she achieved a unique achievement!
Now Laura faces a long-term disqualification and annulment of the results of the Olympics.
True, no matter how the trials end, it will still not work to take away the medals from the culprit of the scandal.
The failure of a historical mission
To Beijing Laura Barkero and her partner Marco Zandron rode in exceptional status. A truly historic mission fell to the share of the Spanish duet: the athletes became the first representatives of their country in the Olympic tournament among sports couples throughout its existence. Interestingly, the Italian Zandron at the same time received Spanish citizenship just two days before the start of the Games!
By that time, the couple already had several solid achievements behind them. Last season, the duo won the national championship, following which they successfully defended the red-orange colors already at the international level. So, in the framework of the German Nebelhorn Trophy, which is part of the Challenger series, the couple became the second, and won the first international victory at the competitions in Nice. For the newly formed Spanish couple, making it to the Games was a huge success in itself.
In China, the Spaniards performed much better than at the European Championships, but they did not reach the best results of the season and took the final 11th place. For the first joint season, the result is very worthy, promising Laura and Marco good prospects for the next Olympic cycle.
Just ointment for abrasions?
However, these prospects now look hazy. Two days following the end of the Olympics, it became known that the Spanish figure skater during the Games passed a positive test for banned substances. In the A doping test, which Laura passed on February 18, experts from the Beijing laboratory found a clostebol metabolite.
The drug, found in the body of Barkero, has recently been found in athletes more and more often. Experts say that the surge in its “popularity” is associated with two factors: the wide availability of the drug and the transition of anti-doping laboratories to more sensitive methods of sample analysis. Usually clostebol enters the body of athletes due to their use of Trofodermin, an external ointment that is often treated with simple abrasions.
The substance itself is absolutely harmless and does not affect the improvement of athletic performance. However, this metabolite has been on the WADA prohibited list for a long time, and therefore professional athletes always check the composition of skin ointments before buying. Everyone remembers the story of the Norwegian skier Teresa Yohaug, who explained the ingestion of clostebol into her body by using lip ointment. However, this did not save her from punishment.
Barquero is the fourth participant in the Olympics who was caught doping
Barkero, apparently, also at some point weakened her attention – and now she can pay for it. The Spanish woman’s case has already been transferred to CAS, and now she can be disqualified. But for obvious reasons, Laura will not be deprived of medals – there is simply nothing to take away from the skater.
The case of Barquero, by the way, is far from the only one at this Olympics when it comes to athletes who passed positive tests right during the tournament. The only representative of the Iranian national team, a skier, was the first to use doping Hussein Saveh-Shemshaki, who was immediately sent home in disgrace. After that, prohibited substances were found in the samples of two Ukrainian women: bobsledders Lydia Gunko and skiers Valentina Kaminskaya. The latter, due to an unpleasant incident, even had to end her career.
The further fate of Barkero will depend on the severity of the punishment. It will be a pity if a bright couple breaks up six months following their formation, because European and world figure skating is desperately lacking competition.
