Russian Chief Salnikov Believes Doping Drama Hurt Olympic Performance

Russian Swimming Federation president Vladimir Salnikov, a past Olympic champion himself, says that he believes that Russia’s performance at the 2016 Olympics was impacted by the doping issues that led up to the Games. In an interview with the Russian Olympic Committee, Salnikov painted a considerably rosier view of the outcome in Rio than have most observers – noting that the 4 medals won were the same as the London Games 4 years earlier, but ignoring that in both cases that outcome was considered an under-performance in multiple areas.

In the interview, Salnikov says that he believes the issues many Russian swimmers faced, including being uncertain if they’d be allowed to participate even after the Olympics started, hurt them.

“It is necessary to take into account the conditions under which the whole Olympic team prepared for the Olympic Games,” Salnikov explained. “Many Russian athletes were not able to perform in Rio for reasons that have nothing to do with sport. Fortunately, the swim team was able to compete at full strength, for which I am grateful to all those who defended the rights of athletes. But jitters could have affected the results. I am convinced that under normal conditions, the same Vladimir Morozov, who recently became the first Russian in historyto win the overall FINA World Cup title, would have been on the Olympic podium.”

Morozov has never had a positive test against him, but was for a period removed by FINA from the Olympic roster after being named in the WADA IP “McLaren” report as an athlete who had previous positive tests covered up by the Russian government. Eventually, Morozov, and every other Russian swimmer, was allowed to compete, in spite of an IOC directive that should have excluded several of them.

Morozov wound up missing the final in both the 50 and 100 meter freestyles, and the Russian 400 free relay placed 4th (after qualifying through 1st from prelims). The 400 medley relay also wound up 4th.

Overall, Salnikov remained positive about the outlook of swimming in Russia from top to bottom. He pointed to programs to attract and retain youth talent in the sport (“I’m a Champion!”) that bred teen medallists Evgeny Rylov (200 back bronze) and Anton Chupkov (200 breast bronze). He also pointed to the fact that the Russian Swimming Federation has regional organizations in 75 of Russia’s 85 Federal Subjects.

Besides the goal of growing that to 85 out of 85, Salnikov laid out two other areas of focus for Russia moving forward. He pointed to the American high school and university athletics system as something that gives the United States an advantage, but that is under-developed in Russia. He also pointed to a desire to improve Russia’s open water results – their highest finisher was Anastasiya Krapyvina, who was 8th in the women’s race. Salnikov said that Russia’s climate doesn’t lend itself to open water swimming, but that the federation was working on solutions to improve results regardless – which thus far has included sending European Champion Kirill Abrosimov to Miami, Florida to train.

Overall, he says the federation’s biggest challenge is funding young athletes to keep them in the sport over more lucrative endeavors. But, he says, that’s a problem that can’t be solved by the federation and where the Russian government will have to step in.