Adelina Sotnikova (27, Russia), the gold medalist in women's singles figure skating at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, recently appeared on YouTube and confessed to receiving a positive doping test result during the Olympics, sparking controversy. Following Sotnikova's remarks, the Russian Figure Skating Federation immediately denied the claim, and even the media that published the video deleted it within a day, causing the controversy to spread widely.
Russian media outlet Sports RBC reported on the 6th (Korean time), "The doping test interview with Sotnikova, which was a problem, has been deleted. When you access the video, it says that the user who uploaded the video has deleted it."
Earlier, Sotnikova appeared on a YouTube channel called "Tatarca FM" hosted by Russian influencer Liliya Abramova and said, "During the first doping test at the 2014 Olympics, I received a positive result. I had to take a retest, and when I opened the second sample, it came out negative, so I didn't receive any penalties." She made these comments while discussing the recent doping controversy surrounding Kamila Valiyeva (17), who tested positive at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Even if the final verdict was negative, once it is revealed that there was a positive result, suspicion of drug use cannot be completely cleared. Furthermore, Sotnikova's doping suspicions were not new. In 2016, it was revealed in a doping report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that Sotnikova's urine sample was tampered with. However, according to Sports RBC, at the request of Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, Sotnikova was removed from the list of doping suspects in 2017. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Skating Union (ISU) did not further investigate Sotnikova's doping case.
In such a situation, the fact that Sotnikova admitted to testing positive for doping after nine years came as a surprising shock to the Russian figure skating community. Alexander Kogan, Secretary General of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, exclaimed, "This is the first time I've heard such a story. It's an unbelievable story." Elena Buianova, the coach who guided Sotnikova at the Sochi Olympics, strongly denied the allegations, saying, "It's an unbelievable statement." However, with the video being deleted within a day, it appears that this controversy will not easily subside.
Even without the doping controversy, Sotnikova's gold medal had already been embroiled in biased judging controversies, with many claiming that she robbed Yuna Kim (33) of the gold medal during the 2014 Olympics. Sotnikova was just an ordinary promising skater, ranking 9th in the 2013 World Championships before the Olympics. Although she had disappointing performances with rotations and landing errors during the Olympics, she controversially won the gold medal with a total score of 224.59, surpassing Kim Yuna's 219.11. Even figure skating legend Katarina Witt criticized the judging, saying, "This judging was seriously flawed." Following the contentious gold medal, Sotnikova failed to achieve remarkable results in subsequent world championships and announced her retirement in 2020.
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