Kamila Valieva: Anti-doping Case and Follow-ups

[Greengemmonster]

Can someone just step in and save this poor kid? I never ever ever thought this was how things would turn out for her. Never in a million years.

Jackie Wong (@rockerskating) Tweeted:
Valieva finished her runthru (3A(ur,fall), 3F3T, 3Lz3T), then cried at the boards with Tutberidze
https://t.co/oG99bNX8HH #Beijing2022 https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/1492379917920706566?s=20&t=kEaJHssp2S1gEWJ56fuFPQ

 

[readernick]

Have you seen this? https://twitter.com/_mariaaaa18/status/1492067969807040513 Look at Eteri's reaction!

Well, I've always thought Sergei seemed like the only one on that team who actually cared about the girls. He's the only one who tried to comfort/ help Valieva. I think the others behaved according to expectations. That girl needs her parents.

 

[zanadude]

Another hideous thing that someone said is that she is 15 and not 5 implying she should know better.

That was not what I implied at all.

 

[moonvine]

Are we petitioning to raise age limit up to 18 in all sports including gymnastics, diving, snowboarding, skateboarding etc.?

I am all for this.

 

[moonvine]

I don't want to be overdramatic but it just does not look good from any point of view. I am afraid I am seeing last agonizaing breaths of figure skating. It was not that popular before (except Russia and Japan) and this story is like a shot in the head. Very bad timing. If the positive test had been revealed anytime before the lady's short program in team event, the disaster could have been avoided. Kamila would have been suspened and just lost her titles and that's it. The team event would not have been compromised. The Olympic Games would not have been copromised . Tremendous loss of marketing appeal, loss of sponsors, loss of reputation, loss of spectators etc. Litereally nobody gained anything from this situation. I heard that some Canadian journalist suggested excluding figure skating from the OG. Why not? P.S I am not even talking about suggestion to ban all Russian athletes/figure skaters from international competitions. It will be very entertaining to watch, especially Europeans, especially pairs. And actually I don't care who wins. I just love beauty of figure skating.

Casual fans do not even know this is going on. I bet if I ask my mother about it she'll say "what?"

 

[zanadude]

I am all for this.

I wish I wasn't, but it seems now that some people have ruined things for everyone, so only people that can take responsibility for their actions should be allowed to compete at a senior level.

 

[gsk8]

Think of poor Rika Kihira who is injured because she tried to keep up with the quad frauds.

While you of course are entitled to your opinion, the term "quad frauds" negates all the work that all skaters have done to get to that level.

 

[Mista Ekko]

Another hideous thing that someone said is that she is 15 and not 5 implying she should know better.

That line sounded kinda bad yeah but I think what that poster was trying to say is
that people 15 or younger have been known to take illegal substances all on their own,
or at least be aware of what they put in their bodies, so while we are not supposed to make
assumptions in this thread we're all automatically making the assumption that someone
did this to her without her knowledge, I know I am.

 

[4everchan]

Casual fans do not even know this is going on. I bet if I ask my mother about it she'll say "what?"

you would be surprised... i have received a few messages from friends who know i am a fan but are a once every 4 year fans.... and the reactions so far are : again??? why is figure skating always making the news during the olympics...? so, it's bad for the sport ...

 

[Mista Ekko]

I honestly don’t care if a 15 year old asked for drugs. She’s 15. Her brain isn’t fully developed. The adults are supposed to be adults and say no. They’re supposed to protect her from this and they didn’t. She has to accept the consequences regardless.

I tend to agree with this and they obviously won't and can't charge her with anything,
maybe a Russian person could enlighten us, if say the worst case scenario is the truth and
they have been doping her for a few years, would someone her age even have an outlet
in Russia to understand that this is wrong and not everybody is doing it?

 

[el henry]

Casual fans do not even know this is going on. I bet if I ask my mother about it she'll say "what?"

Out here, back East, sadly, they do. My sister, who watches figure skating only when the Olympics are on, and not so much then, texted me if I knew who this Russian skater was and had I heard the story. As did a former co-worker.

A huge photo of Kamila with a tabloid headline was on the front page of the NY Post.

I’d rather see all Nathan, all the time than this. So sad

 

[msteach3]

Casual fans do not even know this is going on. I bet if I ask my mother about it she'll say "what?"

The story has been all over both local and national news, as well as social platforms. It would be difficult to miss at this point.

 

[4everchan]

I’d rather see all Nathan, all the time than this. So sad

And this is only one of the issues. While the world should be celebrating the prowess of the athletes, the focus in on doping.

 

[flanker]

Sorry but I reserve the right to question everything about this “school” at this point, including which past results and accomplishments if any have been achieved fairly. The suggestion that *we* are somehow the unreasonable ones in this scenario is gaslighting at its finest, though I realize that’s the usual MO.

It was not "questioning". Be honest, precisely the same people who were showing very negative attitude towards the school are those who make the instant jump to speculations "they are all to blame" without evidence.

 

[Jontor]

Wasn't it Shabotova before her switch to Ukraine, who said that everyone was doping and caused an uproar? I think she got blacklisted after that. That's probably partly why she's skating for Ukraine now.

The Shabotova case was a 13 year old girl who was doing an instagram q&a with a lot of leading questions. She didn't know what she was talking about. It made an uproar for sure, and yes, it probably destroyed her career within Russia. The whole case was dismissed as nonsense from a naive 13 year old.

The power of social media blew this up to enormous proportions, and still today when people are mentioning Shabotova they associate her name with a drug case that never existed. Which is exactly what happened right here.

Social media speculations almost always become truths.

 

[flanker]

Wasn't it Shabotova before her switch to Ukraine, who said that everyone was doping and caused an uproar? I think she got blacklisted after that. That's probably partly why she's skating for Ukraine now.

This is returning like a boomerang. She was joking "they are doping with chocolate", but people keep repeating it like she made a serious statement. So no, she did not say "everyone is doping."

 

[Haikush]

Think of poor Rika Kihira who is injured because she tried to keep up with the quad fraud

Go give her the drugs and lets see if she can do it...NO
No amount of drug made Valieva work as hard as she does, make her have the beautiful extension she does and make her have magic skills.....doesn't work that way
One positive among how many negatives for how many years? Yea and the timing isn't suspect at all.....hope she competes and wins as she should

 

[solani]

I'm beyond outraged that the Russian Federation let a doctor with that history (banned because he doped rowers in 2008 (he took full responsibility), association with the Bobrova case) work with the Eteri group! There are pictures of this guy with the top girls from the group and one where Valieva looks at some art with him! They didn't even hide it.
The association alone would be enough per definition (higher standards for ROC athletes), to ban them from the Olympics! Are they totally insane? I really don't get it. There you have the best female skating group in the World and then you let such a shady person work with them.

 

[Haikush]

Mark Kondratiuk has a gold from team.... but ended up 15th in the individual men's event.
Does that give him license to think/say he's one of the best figure skaters in the world?

Also, if we're talking about "the best/winning", USA won 3 out of 8 segments in the team event. Which is the same number ROC won.

Cmon now, the US team is not as strong as ROC...i doubt they'd want to win this way

 

[AlysaLiuStan]

Think of poor Rika Kihira who is injured because she tried to keep up with the quad frauds.

Really highlights Alysa Liu’s talents better considering she could actually land multiple quads and 3A’s clean without hormone blockers/drugs.