A four-time Olympian in the sport of skeleton with numerous top finishes in World Championships, Katie Uhlaender knows what it means to fight for her dreams. She also knows what it feels like to have those dreams clouded by questions of whether she has had access to a level playing field.
At the 2014 Games in Sochi, Uhlaender missed out on a bronze medal by just four-hundredths of a second to a competitor who was later implicated in Russia’s organized doping scheme. While that athlete was later cleared of doping charges, Uhlaender has spent years questioning her finishing place in Sochi and wondering if she lost out on a podium moment that she earned. Here, she reflects on that experience, how the Russian doping scandal has been handled, and the way forward for clean sport.