Olympic Skating Without Russia? ‘Like a Meal Without Salt and Pepper’

[Sylvia]

Jeré Longman's latest NYT column -- following his visit to Nebelhorn Trophy last month, he was in Moscow for Rostelecom Cup and got quotes from Alexei Mishin, Nathan Chen, Rafael Arutyunyan, Eteri Turberidze and Brian Orser: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/sports/olympics/olympics-figure-skating-doping.html
Excerpts:

With its alluring mix of athleticism and artistry, it [figure skating] is the centerpiece of the Winter Games. But as the sport’s Olympic buildup began here this weekend on the Grand Prix circuit, anticipation was tempered by uncertainty.
“Olympics without a Russian team would look like a meal without salt and pepper,” Alexei Mishin, a Russian coach who has produced three gold medals in men’s skating, said here this week, at the Rostelecom Cup.
He’s right. Russia has the depth to sweep all three medals in women’s skating at the 2018 Games. It would also be a favorite in the team skating competition. And Soviet and Russian pairs have won a gold medal at every Olympics but one since 1964.

Chen’s coach is Rafael Arutyunyan, an ethnic Armenian born in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. He coached for 18 years in Moscow before moving to the United States in 2001.
“You can’t kick everybody out because somebody did something wrong,” Arutyunyan said. He added: “I spend all my life to train and I’m not allowed to compete? That’s not fair.”

Evgenia Medvedeva, already a two-time world skating champion at 17, would be Russia’s prohibitive favorite to win gold in South Korea. Has she faced regular drug screening? [chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency Travis] Tygart asked. How often?
The answer from her coach: at each competition and five or six times a year out of competition. This included a morning last week, the coach said, when Medvedeva was awakened at 5:30 a.m. to give a urine sample to a collector from the World Anti-Doping Agency.
“It would be really unfair” to keep Medvedeva from the Olympics, said her coach, Eteri Tutberidze. “She’s not anything about taking doping. To take away four years, that’s your life.”

 

[AxelAnnie]

I think it is utterly appalling that the IOC has not dealt with the matter in what ever way they felt appropriate.
Having not dealt with the issue thus far, I think they have forfeited their authority to do anything. It is called "Poop or get off the pot!"

 

[Tinami Amori]

RUSADA is in an a process of getting reinstated, but there are few more admin. steps.
http://tass.com/sport/972113
https://sputniknews.com/sport/201710231058456795-russia-provided-wada-doping-programme/
http://tass.com/sport/972147

Almost half a year ago WADA already reinstated RUSADA as long as testing is done under supervision. Now the step is to return to independent work.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...t-of-russian-anti-doping-agency-idUSKCN1BZ119