Reporter's diary: The struggle for Russian athletes

World
Europe

The other day over breakfast at the tiny hotel I’m staying at, in a side street in Gangneung, I started talking to the two people seated at the table next to me.

It turned out they were Russian.

It also turned out she was a coach and he was her son, Nina and Nikita Mozov.

We went our separate ways, me to the mountains to report on Li Jiayu winning silver in the snowboard halfpipe; the Mozov’s to Gangneung Ice Arena to chase medals of their own.

One of the proudest Winter Olympic nations is Russia.

But here in PyeongChang, the team is not called ‘Russia’, it’s called ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’ (OAR) and they are competing under the neutral Olympic flag.

At the last Winter Olympics in Sochi four years ago Russia topped the medal tally.

Back then the record books showed the team won 11 golds, nine silvers and nine bronzes for a total of 29 medals.

Nobody is quite sure how many of those still stand after an independent report commissioned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) found systemic doping in Russia.

Some of the athletes had their medals stripped while with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found that a number of them should be reinstated because it said there was no clear evidence that the individuals concerned had cheated.

The legal process remains ongoing.

In the end, the IOC invited 169 athletes from Russia to compete here but many of the country’s champions were missing.

So when competition began at the Gangneung Ice Arena the athletes from Russia were keen to make a mark, eager to prove they deserved to be here, wanting to succeed for their colleagues left behind.

After the Pairs Short Program, the top two teams were China and the OAR.

Less than a point separated the world champions, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, from Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov.

Little did I know that this Russian pair was being coached by my breakfast companion.

With a five-point gap to Canada and Germany, it looked like the gold medal would be a tussle between the Chinese and the Russians.

In the meantime, as part of the team event, one of Nina’s other charges, Mikhail Kolyada won silver in the men’s singles.

Nina and Nikita were buoyant.

The anticipation ahead of the pairs free skate yesterday was almost unbearable.

The Chinese were there to win gold.

So were the Russians.

In the ten minute warm up before the session began a buzz went around the arena as the German IOC president, Thomas Bach, arrived and took his place to watch some of the best skaters in the world. Suddenly there were even more nerves.

Inspired by their countryman, the world’s most important Olympic figure, sitting in the seat with the best view in the house, the German’s were flawless.

Skating to Armand Amar’s La Terre Vue Du Ciel, they shot to the lead then waited anxiously for China and Russia to see if they’d out perform them.

They didn’t.

So a surprise gold went to Germany’s Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot with a combined total of 235.9.

The Chinese hung on for silver with two minor slip-ups, leaving them less than half a point behind, 235.47.

The slimmest of margins so cruelly separated gold from silver.

Skating last, the Olympic Athletes from Russia never found their rhythm and slipped off the podium altogether to fourth place behind Canada.

This morning when I went to breakfast there was only one other person in the room - Nina Mozov.

She started to talk but stopped.

She shrugged her shoulders and began to cry.

Ten minutes later she managed to tell me she hadn’t stopped crying since yesterday - neither had her skaters.

Four years of training had come to this.

Four years ago her skaters had won three gold medals and a silver.

I’m not sure how many of them still stand.

For those who succeed, the Olympics is a remarkable thing.

For those who fail, according to their own standards, it’s a tragedy difficult to overcome.

But time, they say, heals all wounds.

Although, for elite athletes, time is a luxury they do not have. Nina and Nikita Mozov flew out of South Korea this afternoon.

The coach and her athletes will have the weekend off then, come Monday, training starts for next month’s World Championships.

Nina says her athletes will be ready.

She says the Chinese will be ready too and nominated them as the team to beat.

I wonder who I’ll meet when I head to breakfast tomorrow?