The main star and hope of the Russian Olympic team, which competes in Beijing under the white flag due to past doping violations, is at the center of a new doping scandal.
It began with the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) twice postponed the awarding of Russian figure skaters with gold medals in the team tournament – first for a day, then for an indefinite period.
Rumors circulated that it was a coronavirus infection. However, reports soon surfaced of a “dubious” doping test by one of the winners. Everyone waited in horror, who will get the “black mark”. Many predicted problems for someone from the strong half of the team. But it turned out that we are talking about 15-year-old Kamila Valieva.
According to the International Testing Agency (ITA), a laboratory in Stockholm accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) detected a banned substance in a sample taken on December 25 at the victorious Russian Championship. The analyzes revealed traces of the cardiological drug trimetazidine. It is on a par with the sensational meldonium.
There were rumors that the figure skater would now be suspended from participating in the individual championship at the Olympics, and the gold of the team competition would be taken away from Russia. Meanwhile, IOC spokesman Mark Adams declined to comment on “speculation” on the matter, expressing his hope for “the understanding and patience of all the athletes who are involved in this situation.” Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the scandal with the doping test of the Russian woman did not flare up at the Olympics, but among those who “started yelling right and left”, without understanding what had happened.
Valieva’s case will be considered by an exit panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the coming days. But for now, we are only talking about her further participation in the Olympics – questions about the possible disqualification of the athlete and the fate of gold in the team tournament will be decided later. Even if Kamila Valieva is admitted to singles competitions and performs successfully, her results at the Beijing Games may be canceled after the fact.
Alexander Tikhonov, four-time Olympic champion in biathlon
– This is pure carelessness, impunity and lawlessness. Whose? Everyone. The State Duma, the Olympic Committee, the entire state… We were deprived of everything after Sochi. They did it on all sides and again they are talking about a political order. They proved to us that we have more than 1,000 cases in athletics, biathlon and other sports. Suspended from all international federations. What else does? Now the fate of a 15-year-old girl will be broken, God forbid.
Dmitry Guberniev, sportscaster
Let’s assume it’s random. Why didn’t anyone know about this? Who controlled the girl before the Olympics? Why is it known now? She could have been replaced, we have a queue of skaters. Who stuffed a 15-year-old girl with this g … m? Questions to the federation, questions to everyone! WADA also has questions. Why the hell so late? This is not anti-doping! This is just a boorish attempt to kick Russia and Valieva out of the Olympics.
Dmitry Svishchev, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports
– Of course, all this hassle does not help the psychological balance during the largest and, perhaps, the main competitions in the life of an athlete. Therefore, now the coaches, our Olympic Committee need to analyze the situation and support our athletes, protect them from all kinds of attacks and create all the conditions for them to train and perform with dignity, without thinking about the difficulties that arise around.