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Zinaida Stahurskaia has died.
When I saw that headline I presumed it would be something doping-related. It was actually an accident with a car:
She won the overall, three stages and the points, mountains and foreign rider classification in the 2001 Giro. She was stripped of those winnings and banned for four months after testing positive for a diuretic (which she claimed not to know was on the banned list). In June of 2003 she tested positive for ephedrine (which she claimed to have taken unwittingly in some herbal tea) at the Circuito di Massarosa and was banned for two months. In July and August of 2005, she returned positives for stanozolol at the GP Carnevale d'Europa, and for testosterone at the Giro di San Marino and Sparkassen Giro. As a result she was banned for two years. I have written and rewritten this post several times making judgments over these things but this probably isn't the time for scoring cheap shots. You know, when I first read that it was a car accident, I was almost disappointed it wasn't doping-related - as though there could have been an important parable to rise out of this, like some kind of moral phoenix. Then I felt bad for thinking about a dead person like that, as an opportunity - when, regardless of the past, this is a simple human tragedy. I doubt anyone will regard her World Championship win in 2000 or her Grande Boucle win in 2002 (both of which still stand) or any of her other victories with any credibility. Needless to say no-one would have wanted her exit from the sport to be like this.
She leaves a 21-year-old daughter, Svetlana, who also rides.
When I saw that headline I presumed it would be something doping-related. It was actually an accident with a car:
Franco Chirio, in whose team Stahurskaia rode when she "won" her World, Giro and Boucle titles was understandably mournful in his comments. This is a horrible incident, and I hope that if the driver of the jeep was at fault (as it sounds at this early stage) then he or she faces the full brunt of the law.
She won the overall, three stages and the points, mountains and foreign rider classification in the 2001 Giro. She was stripped of those winnings and banned for four months after testing positive for a diuretic (which she claimed not to know was on the banned list). In June of 2003 she tested positive for ephedrine (which she claimed to have taken unwittingly in some herbal tea) at the Circuito di Massarosa and was banned for two months. In July and August of 2005, she returned positives for stanozolol at the GP Carnevale d'Europa, and for testosterone at the Giro di San Marino and Sparkassen Giro. As a result she was banned for two years. I have written and rewritten this post several times making judgments over these things but this probably isn't the time for scoring cheap shots. You know, when I first read that it was a car accident, I was almost disappointed it wasn't doping-related - as though there could have been an important parable to rise out of this, like some kind of moral phoenix. Then I felt bad for thinking about a dead person like that, as an opportunity - when, regardless of the past, this is a simple human tragedy. I doubt anyone will regard her World Championship win in 2000 or her Grande Boucle win in 2002 (both of which still stand) or any of her other victories with any credibility. Needless to say no-one would have wanted her exit from the sport to be like this.
She leaves a 21-year-old daughter, Svetlana, who also rides.