At the 2021 Olympics, there were suspicions about possible offenses by Russian athletes. This time the scene was the pool.

Tokyo – Ryan Murphy was not very happy with his silver medal over 200 meters at the start. The American swimmer was left behind against Yevgeny Rylow and did not hold back on his doping suspicions shortly after the race at the 2021 Olympics. “I am swimming in a race that is probably not clean,” said the 2016 gold medalist. in Rio, alluding to his Russian successor. When asked if the final was fair, Murphy replied, “I have about 15 thoughts, 13 of which would cause me a lot of trouble.”

Due to doping offenses in Russian associations, it is known that athletes cannot start under the flag of their country. Instead, they will fight for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in the 2021 Olympics. After these and other sanctions, Russian athletes are now triumphing again. And that is difficult for some competitors to accept.

Olympia 2021: ROC to be suspended until the end of 2022

The neutral flag, representing Russia’s athletes, is raised with particular frequency at this year’s award ceremonies. Some think: suspiciously often. On Friday, before the middle of the games, the Russians broke the 30 medals they won. The minimum target of 40 times the precious metal should be easily exceeded.

But not only Murphy commented on his suspicion of doping in the course of swimming competitions. British bronze medalist Luke Greenbank also gave his opinion. “As an athlete, it is obviously frustrating to know that there is a government sponsored doping program and feel like maybe more can be done about it,” he said.

Olympia 2021: ROC does not want to know about the allegations

Officially, there is this state-sponsored doping system, with which the world was boldly fooled in Russia’s Olympic golden shower in Sochi in 2014, not anymore. The swamp was gradually drained after scandalous revelations by whistleblowers Julia Stepanova, Vitaly Stepanov and Grigory Rodchenkov, the world anti-doping agency WADA banned the ROC’s Russian national committee for four years. A decision that was cut in half by the International Court of Justice for Sports and only applies until December 2022.

The ROC took note of the attacks and responded with a sarcastic statement in which every word was chosen with gusto. “How grueling our victories are for some of our colleagues. Yes, we are here at the Olympics. We have every right. Whether someone likes it or not. You have to be able to lose sometimes. But not everyone knows how to do it, ”the ROC said on Twitter. And further: “The broken record is playing the song about Russian doping again, and someone is busy pressing the propaganda button in English.”

Olympia 2021: Kremlin defends athletes against doping accusations

Dimitri Peskov, Kremlin spokesman and spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, said succinctly: “Our boys should get medals, preferably gold, and not worry about all that. The medal winners are beyond criticism. “

The International Testing Agency, which monitors doping tests at the Games, announced on Friday that the ROC team ranked fourth among the most heavily tested delegations. The widespread suspicion that Russian athletes tend to be low will be difficult to resolve despite everything. (Pia Ewald with sid)