Double Beijing champ welcomes Russian rivals after claims they ‘shouldn’t be there’
Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug has commented on claims that ‘Russians shouldn’t be in Beijing’ in a report published by her compatriots, underlining that she is happy to compete against Russian rivals at the Winter Olympics.
The 33-year-old claimed her second individual gold in Beijing on Thursday by winning the classic 10km race. Earlier she prevailed in the women's 15km skiathlon.
Johaug missed the 2018 Olympics due to a ban after anabolic steroids were found in a doping probe. Johaug explained that the prohibited substance accidentally entered her body after she used a lip cream without reading its ingredients.
Having waited out the ban, the skier has returned to win two out of three races in Beijing.
On Thursday, Johaug clocked a time of 28:06.03 to win gold – just 0.4 seconds ahead of Finnish star Kerttu Niskanen.
Another Finnish skier, Krista Parmakoski, took bronze beating Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva by a miserable 0.1 seconds.
At a press conference held after her triumph, Johaug said she was pleased to compete against Russian skiers whom she considers some of the strongest rivals on the track.
Responding to a question asked by a Russian reporter, Johaug said that she doesn’t share the view of Norwegian journalist Jan Petter Saltvedt, who said that Russian athletes shouldn’t have been cleared for the Games.
Instead, Johaug was quoted as saying that she supported the participation of Russians in Beijing, noting that she was happy for the success of Nepryaeva, who won silver in the skiathlon at the weekend.
The Norwegian star also said she was looking forward to the challenge of facing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team in the relay event later in the Games.
Commenting on the results of the opening skiing race, which was dominated by the Russian duo Alexander Bolshunov and Denis Spitsov, Saltvedt who works for outlet NRK, said that Russians should not have been allowed to compete in Beijing.
“Alexander Bolshunov took as much gold as he could. The only problem is that he and the other Russian athletes should never have been on the starting line in this Olympics,” Saltvedt wrote.
The president of the Russian Ski Association, Elena Vyalbe, declared a boycott against Norwegian media in protest to the controversial article.
