Israel’s record-breaker Lenskiy breaks down in Ukraine

Lenskiy broke Esther Roth-Shachamarov’s 42-year-old record, clocking a time of 11.42 seconds at Hadar Yosef Stadium in Tel Aviv, improving the previous best by three hundredths of a second.

By ALLON SINAI
Olga Lenskiy Israel (photo credit: TIBOR JAGER)
Olga Lenskiy Israel
(photo credit: TIBOR JAGER)
A week after breaking Israel’s long-standing women’s 100- meter national record, it was revealed on Sunday that Olga Lenskiy is being treated in hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, for a nervous breakdown and urinary infection.
Lenskiy broke Esther Roth-Shachamarov’s 42-year-old record last Saturday, clocking a time of 11.42 seconds at Hadar Yosef Stadium in Tel Aviv, improving the previous best by three hundredths of a second.
Roth-Shachamarov set her record at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
However, the new record was cast in doubt three days later when the Israel Athletics Association announced that the 22-year-old Lenskiy will face a disciplinary court after failing to show up for a drugs test on Sunday.
Due to the relatively unimportant nature of Saturday’s competition, there was no drugs testing team at Hadar Yosef. According to the Anti-Doping Committee of Israel, Lenskiy was requested to take a drugs test on Sunday morning, but after initially agreeing to do so, she notified the testers that she will not be able to attend it as she needs to fly to Ukraine to be beside her ailing grandmother.
“Olga’s trip to Ukraine is completely against the regulations,” said IAA chairman Doron Kofman. “She will have to explain herself on her return to Israel.”
Lenskiy denied any wrongdoing.
“Everything that is being written about me is based on rumors and lies,” she said. “I haven’t used any banned substances and I’m ready to take the test as soon as I return to Israel. I was told on Saturday afternoon that I would need to take a test at 6:30 p.m. at Hadar Yosef and I was already on my way there when they called me to cancel the test.
“Later on in the evening I was told that my grandmother was being admitted to hospital in a critical condition so I was forced to leave the country urgently.”
Lenskiy also said that she would return to Israel during the week and compete in a 200m race in Rishon Lezion on Saturday.
However, her family notified her club, Maccabi Rishon Lezion, on Saturday that she has been hospitalized in Lviv and it remains unclear when she will be able to return to Israel.