.post-content img { padding: 10px; } “It creates a shadow of doubt on the overall system that Russia uses.”

This was the response USA Freestyle Resident Coach Brandon Slay had when he learned of the Independent Commissions report about state sponsored doping in Russia. Though the 335 page report did not mention wrestling specifically, the New York Times released information stating that wrestling was the 3rd most frequent violator within Russia behind only the PED riddled track and field and powerlifting programs.

Slay believes that while it is Russia under a microscope, we must turn an eye to all athletic programs where the government sponsors the athletic programs. In the United States, USA Wrestling and the USOC are independent from the US Government. In countries like Russia, Iran, China, Turkey, etc it is the government that has their hands on training and what the athletes are and are not taking.

The major issue, according to Coach Slay, is the testing.

“They do not have out of competition, state sponsored drug testing. They have a lot more opportunity to, during a period of time, take a drug and get off the drug before they start their competition phase.”

Essentially, the athletes are only subject to testing at a few select events and are left to their own devices the remainder of their training season.

Comparing their systems to the United States is night and day according to Slay. “I can tell you, being a coach for the USA Wrestling team it is not, N-O-T rampant in USA Wrestling. I know it’s not rampant because we have USADA that shows up at our athletes door at 6 o’clock in the morning without them knowing. Sometimes they get tested weekly. They’re in the middle of practice at the Olympic Training Center and there they (USADA) are.  They’re in the middle of practice at the Ohio Regional Training center and there they (USADA) are. So our athletes get randomly tested frequently throughout the year.”

There are a few examples that Coach Slay pointed out that made him more skeptical of countries that do not have year round testing. “You see guys, like the Chinese guy that Brent wrestled from last January to when we wrestled him at the World Championships. Physically he looked different, his gas tank was different, his wrestling skills were more physical. So you wonder, China, a state sponsored athletic program what’s going on there?” Slay then pointed out an example of athletes who have been caught cheating at the World Championships. “It wouldn’t shock me if other countries that have the same system(as Russia) would be doing the same. Just like last year the guy that won the Bronze medal at 97 kilos in Uzbekistan. He was from Russia, came over, wrestled for Turkey he goes and tests positive and loses his Bronze medal. So there’s two countries a Russian and a Turk, and we know the Iranians have tested positive as well. They’ve won a world title and they’ve had a medal taken away from them. The problem comes back to their system.”

Many differences can easily be pointed out between the United States and these countries under PED scrutiny. The opportunities available for a quality life are so drastic if you are an elite athlete that many of these wrestlers will roll the dice and and use PED’s for the opportunity for a better quality of life. Coach Slay spoke on the massive opportunities given to wrestlers who win in these countries.

“It’s unfortunate, a lot of these countries there’s the really rich and the really poor. There’s not a middle class of guys who can make a living and put food on their table. When there’s such a segregated class of athletes that are poor it creates a lot more temptation for these athletes who think “If I don’t win, I’ll become a peasant.” If I win then I become a hero, a prince. I think that temptation can be really powerful for athletes. So I think a lot of athletes succumb to that temptation. There’s a lot of money and prestige in how the government can help take care of you for life. You have the ability to get into politics, companies can be given to you, your family will be taken care of for life. On the flip side in the United States most of our guys have college educations. They won’t have to eat Ramen noodles for the rest of their lives because they didn’t win the Olympics. ”

The questions then become what is the response from International wrestling’s governing body, United World Wrestling (UWW). With Russia being implicated in state sponsored doping and Mikhail Mamiashvili residing as both the Vice President of UWW and the President of the Russian federation, obvious skepticism can be raised about how closely UWW may or may not be monitoring the PED situation within wrestling. Coach Slay offered his thoughts on the response he’d prefer to see from UWW:

“There should be a more detailed investigation of other sports including wrestling. Especially when you consider how dominant they’ve been for years. They should investigate if they haven’t already. It warrants them to investigate russian wrestling further.” Regarding Mamiashvili’s post as UWW VP, Slay reminded us about the process involved to make Mamiashvili the Vice President of UWW: “He is elected to that board. People voted on him. Based on Russia’s success Russia should have a seat on the board. Should it be him? Based on the rumors I’ve heard, there has to be a reason he can’t get into our country. If it were me, I wouldn’t vote for him specifically. He’s the longest tenured guy on UWW leadership but that’s not a good thing. That’s why we have term limits for President. There should be a limit of time to serve on the UWW Board.”

Overall, Coach Slay echoed the sentiments of many in regards to the massive progress made in international wrestling and specifically UWW.

“Things are doing great in wrestling, new name, new logo, better rules. We can’t allow there to be any dark spots in wrestling. We can’t afford it in a global level.”