The five-time Olympic speed-skating champion Claudia Pechstein criticized the admission of Russian athletes to the winter games in Pyeongchang in the form approved by the IOC.
The 45-year-old said to Sport Bild:”To compete under a neutral flag is total rubbish in my eyes”.
“Either one locks the doping of convicted athletes for two years – I have been banned for two years even without a positive test – or one does not let the doping convicted athletes start under the flag of their country quite normally”, says Pechstein:”Either completely or not at all.
At the games in South Korea (9. till 25. February) Russian athletes will start as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” (OAR) because of the scandal about systemic doping. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was unable to get itself out of the race, and said Pechstein:”For me, this decision only shows that the decision-makers in the IOC have no butt in their pants,”said Pechstein.
The record Olympic athlete will be competing in winter games for the seventh time in Pyeongchang. On the one hand, I would like to be there in four years’ time,”she said, adding,” I would like to be there in four years’ time. On the other hand, I think it is a farce that the Winter Games will then take place in Beijing. Beijing has nothing to do with winter sports,”said Pechstein.
The award was “another indication that the IOC officials never get their pockets full enough. It’s all about the money.”