Viktor Chegin

Viktor Mikhailovich Chegin (Russian: Виктор Михайлович Чёгин; born 3 February 1962 in Bersenevka, Lyambirsky District) is a banned Russian racewalking coach. He was responsible for training all three athletes who swept the medals at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics: Olga Kaniskina, Valeriy Borchin and Sergey Kirdyapkin. His athletes Elena Lashmanova and Sergey Kirdyapkin won gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics, with Kaniskina earning a silver medal. Former and banned world record holders Lashmanova, Denis Nizhegorodov and Sergey Morozov are all coached by Chegin.

More than 20 of Chegin's trainees were disqualified for doping-related offenses between 2005 and 2015. As a result, he was banned for life from all sport-related activities on 17 February 2016. Historical results by Chegin-coached athletes continued to be disqualified into mid-2019.[1]

Biography

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On 16 July 2014, Chegin was fired from the Russian team amid an investigation by the Russian Anti Doping Agency (RUSADA).[2] Sovetsky Sport quoted Valentin Balakhnichev, head of the All-Russia Athletic Federation saying Chegin would not be part of the team for the European championship, as the recent doping scandals had “tarnished Chegin’s career” but said the coach would continue to train athletes in Russia.[3]

While not part of the official delegation, Chegin was spotted in August 2014 in Zurich along the course of the 2014 European Athletics Championships coaching his athletes after the ban was in place.[4]

Banned for life in December 2012, after a second doping violation, Morozov continued to work with Chegin as an accredited Russian staff member at the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup.[5]

Chegin coaches at the Centre of the Olympic training of Mordovia in Saransk, where he has been highly honored as "the father of all the victories of our race walkers."[6][7][8][9] He was named a "Chevalier of the Order of Glory of Mordovia"[10]

As early as 2008, there were accusations of systematic doping violations on the part of Chegin.[11] Several other athletes have skipped major championships, which have raised suspicions of doping and avoidance of Drug Testing.[12]

Several of Chegin's suspended athletes, including Sergey Bakulin, Elena Lashmanova and Ekaterina Medvedeva apparently competed in a race on 30 December 2014 according to photographs collected by Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee.[13] Russian officials claim the photographs are from a 2012 event and released additional photographs which show different athletes on the awards stands, although it was not possible to be from 2012 as the running shoes used were not released by Asics until after 2012.[14]

On 15 July 2015 Chegin was suspended by the Russian athletics federation. Prior to that date, Chegin had been allowed to coach.[15] The day before, IAAF ratified a new world record in the 20 km walk by Liu Hong.[16] Two record breaking performances, months earlier, by Chegin coached Olimpiada Ivanova and Olga Kaniskina were not taken into account, because insufficient number of judges were present to fix them.[17] In the year since Balakhnichev cleared Chegin to continuing coaching, Balakhnichev resigned his positions with the All-Russia Athletic Federation and as Treasurer of the IAAF in light of the scandal. His replacement, Vadim Zelichenok, said “Athletes will not be allowed to work with Chegin, or otherwise they come under sanctions.”[15]

On 9 November 2015, an investigative report by the World Anti-Doping Agency recommended that Chegin be given a lifetime ban from sport, due to involvement in a wide-ranging Russian doping scheme in track and field.[18] The ban was issued by RUSADA on 17 February 2016.[19]

Despite his ban, Chegin never ceased coaching his athletes and continued to do so even amid the outcry in the West.[20]

Athletes coached by Chegin and banned for doping offenses

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37 athletes in total had by January 2015 been banned by IAAF in biological passport cases.[21] Eleven of them, or ca. 30%, were coached by Viktor Chegin. There are also at least 6 EPO positives recorded by his athletes, two positives for the possible cancer causing black market drug GW1516, and in 2014 two of his athletes tested positive for SARMs. Three of his athletes have been banned for life, all for their second anti-doping rule violation, and all before the age of 30. Also, one of his athletes, German Skurygin, died of a heart attack at age 45.

Other athletes coached by Chegin

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References

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  1. ^ "8 years, 3 doping cases later, race walker becomes 1st S. Korean with world championships medal". Yonhap News Agency. Seoul. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  2. ^ Russia Fires Walk Coach Investigated for Doping | News. The Moscow Times (16 July 2014). Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  3. ^ Russia cuts coach amid doping probe. IOL (16 July 2014). Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  4. ^ Europei: allenatore russo sospeso per doping, visto a bordo pista durante marcia – Il Fatto Quotidiano. Ilfattoquotidiano.it (14 August 2014). Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  5. ^ IAAF responds to Jared Tallent's doping concerns. Smh.com.au (25 June 2014). Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  6. ^ Account Suspended. Prof.mrsu.ru. Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  7. ^ Chegin – the centre of Russian Race Walking success. iaaf.org (28 September 2007).
  8. ^ "Chegin, the man behind the Saransk Race Walking dynasty - IAAF Race Walking Cup". Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  9. ^ Nizhegorodov begins long stroll to Beijing glory| News. iaaf.org (25 March 2005). Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  10. ^ Double Russian success as junior records fall in Saransk; challenge titles for Plätzer and Sanchez| News. iaaf.org. Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  11. ^ Nocookies. The Australian. Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  12. ^ Tallent wary of absent Russians. Smh.com.au (13 August 2013). Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  13. ^ Another Russian race-walker under scrutiny Archived 18 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Uk.news.yahoo.com (16 January 2015). Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  14. ^ The beginning of the end for Saransk and russia – Dunfee Walks Archived 9 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Dunfeewalks.weebly.com (13 January 2015). Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  15. ^ a b Russia’s suspends top race-walking coach over doping washingtontimes.com 15 July 2015. Washingtontimes.com. Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  16. ^ World records ratified| News. iaaf.org. Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  17. ^ Liu breaks 20km race walk world record in La Coruna| News. iaaf.org. Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  18. ^ Riach, James (9 November 2015). "London 2012 'sabotaged' by Russia: 10 key findings from Wada's doping report". Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  19. ^ Тренер по спортивной ходьбе Чегин пожизненно дисквалифицирован. TASS.ru (25 March 2016)
  20. ^ "Banned Russian race walking coach still working with athletes, official says". Reuters. 24 January 2020.
  21. ^ IAAF: 21 JAN 2015 Press Release Monaco IAAF comment on sanctions for Russian race walkers, iaaf.org 21 January 2015
  22. ^ EME News November 11th–12th, by Alfons Juck, note by Kevin Mangan. American-trackandfield.com. Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  23. ^ Tatyana Akulinushkina latest Russian race walker caught doping, ESPN, 12 May 2015
  24. ^ a b c d e James Ellingworth: 6 Russian race walkers suspended over positive drug tests Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press, bigstory.ap.org, 22 September 2015
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k IAAF: List of athletes currently serving a period of ineligibility as a result of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation under IAAF Rules
  26. ^ a b c d e "Информация о дисквалификации: легкая атлетика" (in Russian). Russian Anti-Doping Agency. 20 January 2015. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  27. ^ a b c Russia athletes banned over drugs – BBC Sport. BBC News (7 August 2008). Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  28. ^ a b IAAF: Athletes currently suspended from all competitions in athletics following an Anti-Doping Rule Violation as at: 11.1.13, iaaf.org
  29. ^ Three Russian track and field athletes recognized ineligible | RUSADA Archived 27 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Rusada.ru. Retrieved on 26 March 2016.
  30. ^ "Heffernan set to claim retrospective bronze from 2010 Euros". Irish Examiner. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  31. ^ "List of athletes currently serving a period of ineligibility as a result of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation under IAAF Rules as at: 28.07.14". IAAF. 28 July 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  32. ^ Российский легкоатлет Емельянов пожизненно дисквалифицирован из-за допинга. TASS (9 March 2018)
  33. ^ Олимпизм: Дисквалификация восьми российских легкоатлетов утверждена (in Russian). Пекин 2008: XXIX Олимпийские игры. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  34. ^ "Russian athlete Igor Yerokhin disqualified for life for violating anti-doping rules (translation from Ukrainian)". hotsport.ua. Archived from the original on 15 October 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  35. ^ Øystein Jarlsbo: Favoritten dop-tatt i 1997, vg.no 30 August 2007
  36. ^ Howard Fendrich: 5 Athletes Test Positive For Doping, The Moscow Times 12 August 1997
  37. ^ "Athletics news - Russian race walker Anisya Kirdyapkina gets doping ban - CAS". Eurosport. 15 November 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  38. ^ Morozov Sergey. IAAF. Retrieved on 1 April 2102.
  39. ^ Doping Rule Violation. IAAF (5 November 2008). Retrieved on 1 April 2012.
  40. ^ Race walking gets its very own, preposterous doping scandal, New York Post, 15 October 2014
  41. ^ RUSADA: Информация о временном отстранении: легкая атлетика Archived 8 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, 14 October 2014
  42. ^ Dmitriy Rogovitskiy: Russian walker Ruzavin banned for doping, sports.yahoo.com, 17 March 2015
  43. ^ Bernardo José Mora: German Skurygin (1963–2008)
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