The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) issued a verdict on Thursday, according to which Russian weightlifter Tatiana Kashirina was disqualified for doping for eight years. Given the served period of provisional suspension, the athlete is not eligible to compete until January 9, 2030.
CAS granted the appeal of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and overturned the decision of the disciplinary anti-doping committee (DAK) RUSADA from 2022, which then dropped all charges against Kashirina.
A native of Noginsk is 32 years old. This is an outstanding athlete, the likes of whom were neither in Soviet nor in Russian weightlifting. Silver medalist of the 2012 Olympic Games, five-time world champion, eight-time European champion, multiple world record holder in the heaviest female weight category.
The beginning of the story
The wake-up call sounded in November 2020, when Kashirina was convicted of using illegal drugs and suspended from competition. Moreover, the violation was discovered during an investigation concerning the infamous data of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory (LIMS). The very one headed by Grigory Rodchenkov. June 2022 found Kashirina not guilty. The suspension was over, and the path to the platform was open to her again. But the Russian woman missed the main start – the Olympic Games held in Tokyo in the summer of 2021.
But the chances of winning gold were great: the silver medal of the athlete performing with an injury at the 2019 World Championships was the only one for the Russian team. And Nikolai Kolesnikov, who led the team, spoke brightly about her victory at the 2018 World Championships: “This is Tatyana’s hard-won gold medal, she needs to erect a monument. Because she worked so hard and so much effort was made so that she would not go to the World Championships. she endured everything and proved that she really is the strongest in the world.Kashirina did not perform at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro either. Despite the fact that for this start, the athlete, who was burning with the desire to take revenge for the failure in London (she estimated the Olympic silver in this way), came up as a clear leader. What her convincing victories at the 2014 and 2015 World Championships clearly spoke about.Shortly before the start of the Games, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) suspended the Russian team from participation due to a string of doping violations identified in previous years. Kashirina was among the innocent athletes who suffered because of the principle of collective responsibility adopted by international officials.
Suspension from participation was a heavy blow for the weightlifter. Tatyana later said, holding back tears with difficulty: “Even if I win at the next Olympics, a very large piece has already been torn out of my sports life. And I don’t understand such a policy towards us. I am a professional athlete and do my job honestly. I understood why it happened and what is my fault.”
On the verge of leaving
The weightlifter admitted that she could not watch those competitions. “In the morning I saw the (low) result of the winner, and it became even more painful for me. For me, everything that happened is a very painful topic that will not disappear anywhere in four years, and after 10. Everything turned upside down: everything that I did for many years, everything my work just collapsed in an instant,” Kashirina said. br>
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“I have been moving towards this all my conscious career, and after what happened for two months I didn’t come to the gym at all and didn’t want to train. There was a complete rejection of weightlifting. And only in November I started training again thanks to the support of the people who were nearby. first of all, this is my personal trainer Vladimir Stanislavovich Krasnov,” Kashirina said.
The Russian woman was twice recognized as the best weightlifter in the world, but the athlete was not inclined to exaggerate her achievements: “My task is to show people that I honestly do my job. And the fact that I am recognized as the best athlete in the world, of course, is nice, but for me it’s not the most important thing.
Will there be an appeal?
There is still the possibility to appeal against the decision of the court in Lausanne. Perhaps sports lawyers are now carefully reviewing the documents and the possibilities for filing an appeal, carefully weighing the pros and cons. “We already won the first time, and then WADA filed an appeal. Everything is planned there, there is no point in filing an appeal,” Krasnov said. holds a different opinion and still tries to defend the rights of the athlete.
Kashirina celebrated her previous success on August 8 in Minsk, having won in the weight category up to 87 kilograms at the II Games of the CIS countries in Belarus. The Russian woman was 30 kg ahead of the athlete who became the second.
