Sochi 2014: Borodulina’s DQ no cause for celebration By Matt Hustwaite Updated: February 11, 2014 As a nation we love to take fire at those who succeed, particularly in sport, with tall poppy syndrome being an unfortunate element of our national psyche. It would seem then that we struck gold as Russian/Australian double-defector Tatiana Borodulina found herself disqualified in the heats of the 500m short track speed skating, an event she had quickly found herself in medal contention for. After all, this was the athlete who Australia prized so highly that the government actually changed the Citizenship Act to get her a passport in time. The plan worked, and Borodulina represented Australia at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver but was wooed back by the Russians in 2012. This wasn’t the first time that Russia and Australia have seen a double-defection on the Olympic stage. Irina Lashko made headlines when she returned to Russia following her bronze medal performance in the diving at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She had represented Russia at three Olympic Games before her first switch but her defection back to her mother land saw a quick transformation from star athlete to hated villain in the eyes of many Australian sports fans.
But watching Borodulina in the Speed Skating event on Monday night AEDT though should not have been a cause for celebration. The 31-year couldn’t even process what had happened as shock and bewilderment took over her expression. Four years of work between Winter Olympics from an athlete who is renowned for serious dedication to her sport, even to the detriment of her social opportunities, all gone in a couple of seconds, thanks to a couple of tense twitches from her front foot. In front of her home crowd, she had to slowly skate off the ice to the sounds of boos from her fellow Russians watching in the stands. Despite this nearly too perfect scenario for tall poppy syndrome to kick in, it must be noted that in her short stint as an Australian athlete Borodulina helped produce one of Australia’s most promising speed skating prospects. 18 year-old rising star Deanna Lockett trained daily with the Russian native in Brisbane and it is no coincidence that Deanna is now beginning to make inroads in the sport of speed skating. Head of the Australian Olympic Winter Institute Geoff Lipshut has even gone so far as to say that the fact Deanna is doing so well is largely due to Tatiana Borodulina. At the 2013 World Championships, Lockett was Australia’s stand out performer coming 12th in her preferred distance of 1500m and at the Junior World Championships took out bronze in the 1500m on the opening day of competition. She competes for Australia in Sochi in both the 1000m and 1500m Short Track Speed Skating events and hopes to see herself crack the top 8. So while Australia’s focus can shift to cheering on our rising star in her debut Winter Olympics, Tatiana Borodulina can focus on the 1000m, 1500m and the relay, the event that the Russians wanted her back for. As for the Women’s 500m Speed Skating, with Borodulina out of the running South Korea’s Sang Hwa Lee looks even more certain to claim back to back gold medals with Heather Richardson of the USA also a chance to take out the final.