Russian sport has been living in conditions of deep international isolation for more than a year….

Russian sport has been living in conditions of deep international isolation for more than a year. During this time, doping practices flourished in certain industries. There are no international tournaments, which means there is no need to keep athletes “clean”. At the same time, the tasks of “internal use” have not been canceled. Everyone still demands to win the Russian championship, sponsors and curators of top clubs still strictly ask for results.
A striking example of the flourishing of doping practices is the Russian hockey industry. And at the highest, professional level. In big hockey, the issue of doping is approached thoroughly. The youth team of the KHL club Salavat Yulaev has already been caught, these facts have been publicly recognized. But the problem is much broader.

The drugs are also abused by the most elite clubs. More often than others mentioned current winner of the Gagarin Cup, Moscow CSKA.
Moreover, you need to understand that doping in hockey is not meldonium or restorative drugs, but much stronger drugs.

Meet someone who doesn’t follow hockey closely: CSKA forward Prokhor Poltapov. 20 years old. He seems to be a promising forward, but does not stand out with his statistics. Neither in the regular KHL championship – 10 (5+5) points in 56 matches, nor the farm club of the army team Zvezda. In general, neither to the star, nor to the red army…

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But in the playoff finals, Prokhor suddenly played like the world superstar Connor McDavid. He beat the entire team, turned two-time Stanley Cup winner and Olympic champion Vyacheslav Voinov out of the blue and scored. How is this possible?

Experienced chemistry athletes will immediately tell you: the boy is “studying.” That is, he uses anabolic steroids, which multiply speed and strength indicators.
Swedish goalkeeper Adam Reideborn plays like a god. In CSKA, in general, no matter the goalkeeper, in the last few years he has been the messiah. Lars Johansson, Ivan Fedotov and now Reideborn, after an unclear regular season, are transformed in decisive matches. The Swedish goalkeeper hardly played in February, apparently taking a “course” of preparation.

What about the KHL? In words the league fights doping, but in reality the checks are purely nominal. Previously, the names of players for verification were determined by lot. Now they are known in advance – just like the place and time of RUSADA inspections. This information “leaks” from the league office; interested clubs know about it in advance and are preparing to bypass doping control.

The disappearance of the surprise factor completely turns doping control into a formality.

And the worst thing is that doping is becoming a common reality of life in Russian hockey. And even if the national team is returned to the Olympics and World Championships, Russia simply will not be ready for this. Too many players are involved in games with illegal drugs