Šmigun-Vähi Legal Case Obstructing Publication of 2nd Drug Result
Double Olympic gold medalist Kristiina Šmigun-Vähi has taken the recent publication of a positive drugs test result at the 2006 Torino winter games to a sports tribunal, postponing the disclosure of a second, backup test.
After rumors emerged in February this year that one or two top Estonian athletes had tested positive for banned substances at the 2006 games in a retest at the end of 2013, Šmigun-Vähi revealed that she is the athlete being accused of doping, denying that she had ever used banned substances.
She said in February that certain chemical compounds, from which a suspicion of use of drugs was deduced, had been detected in a retesting of her A-sample given eight years ago.
The B-sample results were scheduled to be revealed after the Sochi games in February. Neinar Seli, president of the Estonian Olympic Committee, said on Friday that Šmigun-Vähi's team has disputed the publication of the first test, which means the B-test will have to be kept undisclosed for the time being.
Seli said there were procedural flaws in the disclosing of the first test, adding that he has no further information. Šmigun-Vähi's team and the IOC have also refused to comment further.
Kirstjan Port, the head of the Estonian Anti-Doping Agency, said the legal move could be an attempt to hide information, adding that generally it is in the interest of the athlete to reveal the results of the B-test.
Estonia sent 28 athletes to the games in 2006, among them 14 cross-country skiers. Šmigun-Vähi, then competing under her maiden name, won two gold medals. Another of them was Andrus Veerpalu, who retired from the sport in 2011 under a cloud of suspicion about doping violations. He also won a gold medal in Turin.