Russian curling athlete busted for doping

A positive drug test by a curling athlete could cost Russia its reinstatement in the Olympic Games. News that Russian Alexander Krushelnitsky, the bronze medalist in mixed doubles curling, tested positive for a banned substance shocked a sport known for its high ethical standards. (The World Curling Federation’s rules state that a true curler would prefer to lose than to win unfairly.) Fellow curlers suggested Monday that Krushelnitsky had been slipped the substance, meldonium. “That’s been banned for a year and a half and I can’t imagine that that was something that happened on purpose,” said John Shuster, the captain of the U.S. men’s curling team. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Russia from this year’s Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, because of an elaborate doping scheme the team perpetrated at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. About 170 athletes not caught doping were allowed to compete in Pyeongchang as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” and were subject to more rigorous drug tests than competitors from other countries. IOC spokesman Mark Adams said the failed doping test could keep Russian athletes from marching under the national flag at the closing ceremony. Many have expressed surprise that performance-enhancing drugs would infiltrate curling, an event known more as a game of skill. But the sport does take strength and coordination, and anyone who doubts that should try sliding down an icy sidewalk while sweeping vigorously without falling down—50 or more times over the course of two hours.