Denmark’s goals for world curling championship haven’t changed despite losing teammate to positive doping test
In more than a decade competing at international curling tournaments, Danish skip Lene Nielsen has learned to roll with the punches.
A bad shot here and there isn’t going to send her spiralling. Even if a misplaced rock arguably costs her team a game, the way it did in the ninth end of Saturday’s opening draw against Canada, Nielsen bounces back quickly.
Dealing with a teammate failing a drug test, though, is something else altogether.
It was about a month ago that Nielsen’s team received news that their third, Helle Simonsen, had tested positive for a banned substance during the 2015 European Championship and would be prohibited from competing for the foreseeable future.
That’s not the type of news that you simply bounce back from, even if nobody is accusing Simonsen of using the banned substance for performance-enhancing purposes.
“It’s gotten better, but still it’s always difficult to replace a teammate,” Nielsen said Monday morning after her team beat previously undefeated Japan 11-4. “I’ve played with Helle for the last 10 or 12 years and of course it’s a struggle, but we’re trying to make the best of it.”
While there’s a long and ridiculous list of excuses that athletes have used to explain their use of prohibited substances, the rink got out in front of the news quickly by releasing a statement on its Facebook page explaining the incident and expressing support for their teammate.