The World Cup According to Grande: The Russians Get Scolded by FIS

FIS THREATENS THE RUSSIANS

I have been avoiding this subject since I started writing. I have no proof. I have no intention of investigating this subject to try to find truth because there is no truth, or proof. The science of doping is ahead of the testing. And those who can afford it and are willing to compromise their professional ethics can cheat and get away with it. Of that I am sure.

Over the seven years I worked with the U.S. Ski Team, I had the good fortune of sitting through annual (at least), USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency) educational and procedural meetings. The goal of these meetings, as far as I could tell, was to educate staff and athletes of what PEDs will do to your body (both negative and positive), which drugs are on the list, present examples of cheaters and their before and after pictures and of course the procedure of getting registered, opening an account and how to update your whereabouts, etc. As well as the testing protocol. The educational portion of the program was usually old-hat as most everyone in the room was well aware of the benefits and risks of using these drugs. But I do think part of the goal of the educational presentation was to make the coaches and athletes vigilant if not downright suspicious of certain nations and athletes in our sport. They described sudden weight gain, abnormal cranial growth, sudden and repeated adult teeth bracing, miraculous recovery from injury, sudden upswing in results, etc. All of the anecdotal stuff everyone is generally aware of. HGH has certain effects, steroids others, EPO still others. It also served as an identification of nations that did not have acceptable internal testing programs. And while I will not go into that specifically, if you think hard, you should be able to come up with the answers. Think about abnormal illnesses at young ages, incredible recovery from major injuries, cranial growth, adult braces, large swings in weight gain and loss. Suspicion can be cast on many athletes around the world in many sports.

Alpine skiing is a sport where size and strength will do a lot for an athlete’s results. While these attributes do not guarantee anything as far as results are concerned, they can certainly push a world-class athlete over the hump into the world of wins, medals and podiums. And before I go into this further, I will state that I think alpine skiing is a generally clean sport. In the conversations I have had over the years with many athletes from many different countries, they were mostly ethically strong people with a belief system that would not allow them to cheat. They were also predominantly athletes who believe in living healthy lives for themselves and those around them. Some I would even say are paranoid in how they avoid human contact in flu season and ritually wash their hands. But all of them carried suspicion of specific people as well as several nations of systematically doping. Again, I am not naming names, just think it through. Any sudden drop-offs in performance after a doping scandal? Or a near-miss on a test? Or a friend/teammate getting caught? Any sudden “breakthroughs” after years of mediocrity? Anyone able to withstand inhuman training loads? I think all of these things have taken place in the last 10 years.

THE USADA PROGRAM

First of all, all USADA policies and procedures along with banned substance lists, etc. are available on their website, www.usantidoping.org. While the USADA program changes annually, the reality is that they are extremely diligent in their pursuit of users of PEDs. The athletes on the U.S. Ski Team need to give USADA their personal whereabouts and schedule for every day of their lives and be prepared to be tested at any time of day from early morning to late evening. You could be camping at an alpine lake on a three-hour hike from the nearest road and you would need to provide that information and be prepared to pee in a cup if the USADA rep showed up at your site. There are restrictions on missed tests where three misses equal one failed test which equals a two-year ban. Your missed tests come off the list on the 18 month anniversary of your missed test. We have had athletes tested so regularly that it totally amazes me that any American athlete in the USADA pool could get to the Olympics and THEN fail a test. An example of out of season testing:  We had our entire Men’s World Cup and Europa Cup training groups in New Zealand a few years ago and USADA co-opted with WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) and showed up at breakfast one morning as we were leaving for training. They then pulled our ENTIRE group aside for testing. Coaches went to the hill and set up training, waited as some athletes trickled in and got a few runs. By the time our training reservation window was over the rest of the guys never made it and we went home having paid for two lanes for three hours we had barely used. We figuratively flushed a few thousand dollars down the toilet. There was no apology, no explanation. It is just the life of an athlete in the USADA Olympic testing pool. My point of this story is that I think our team is clean. The other point is that not every nation has a program as thorough as ours and some nations don’t have one at all. Every USST athlete has their own story of personal inconvenience with regard to preparation period testing.

The motivation for writing this piece was not to indict people or bring suspicion on anyone. The motivation came from an article on Yahoo Sports about the Russian Federation being fined and warned by FIS to clean up their act. The warning included the mention of a four-year ban for ALL Russian athletes from FIS competitions. This, of course, includes the Olympics. The Sochi games are now within a four-year window. And while this warning and fine is prompted by repeated failed tests by their Cross Country teams, the ban would extend to all of their FIS athletes. In addition, Russia was ordered to fire all of their coaches connected with the failed tests. As a result, Russia canned everyone. Their alpine program has hired a number of Slovenian alpine coaches in their stead. Including former USST Women’s Head Coach Marjan Cernigoj and former Slovenia Men’s Coach, Urban Planinsek. Former Park City Ski Team coach, Cam Chin, was hired by Cernigoj to coach the Women’s World Cup team. But as they move on they will need to do so with caution. They have a ton of money and they have been throwing it at their alpine team. But now the spot-light of doping scandal is on the whole federation and everyone will need to tighten the ship. And while I say that, there is not total agreement with that from the Cross Country community. There seems to be little confidence that FIS will follow through with the threat if needed. In the most recent scandal, FIS fined Austria $1 Million in the 2006 doping scandal in Torino as well as banning some athletes for life. Read-on and think about the subject a little and pay attention.

 See the following article:

*This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser.
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/breakingnews/fis-sanctions-russian-ski-federation-over-doping-wants-clean-home-team-for-sochi–95505604.html

The Yahoo Article can be found at: https://sports.yahoo.com/ski/news?slug=ap-doping-russia

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Alpine Race Consulting

Greg “Grande” Needell grew up ski racing at Stratton Mountain,
Vermont. After graduating from SMS he skied for NCAA Division 1 St.
Lawrence University in Canton, NY where he was co-captain in 1986. Greg
returned to SMS to coach there for five years serving as the Head
Women’s Coach as well as the Head J2 Men’s Coach. He then moved to
Mission Ridge in Wenatchee, Washington in 1992 to become the Program
Director and Head Coach of the Mission Ridge Ski Club. In 1997, Greg
became the Head Coach at Mammoth Mountain, California.

In 2002 Needell was asked to join the U.S. Ski Team staff as a World
Cup SL and GS coach. From 2002 to 2008 Needell helped lead the U.S. Ski
Team Men to 43 wins, 105 podiums and 264 top ten finishes. Now at the
helm of Alpine Race Consulting, Needell offers his knowledge and
experience to clubs nationwide.

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