Kamila Valieva: Anti-doping Case and Follow-ups

[bluwaters]

I have been lurking as I am only a figure skating fan during the Olympics but my heart is breaking for Kami and all the athletes affected by the fallout over her failed test.
While we are on pins and needles over the decision about to come down I sincerely hope that Kami is notified before the public.
Please at least give her the grace to let her have some space to absorb it all.

I do follow tennis closely and I am afraid that I have never seen WADA and CAS gove a player a pass.
They may consider extenuating circumstances and perhaps hand down a lighter penalty.

What a terrible situation!
I believe that Kami should not be the only one held accountable but there is no good solution.
Every skater who competed with her is also affected.
Very sad.

 

[Jontor]

1. As far as I know, we don't *know* when the lab received it or why the results were delayed. We know what RUSADA says. The lab is not commenting.

What delayed Kamila Valieva’s positive drug test? ‘Absolutely inexcusable,’ says U.S. anti-doping chief

The International Testing Agency confirmed Friday that Valieva, the 15-year-old skating sensation, had tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance.

nz.news.yahoo.com

2. If the lab is closed, or is slow, particularly before the Olympics, a fed typically does all they can to expedite results. (I am trying to find the article with the quotes, but cannot). I don't know (as in I don't know) if there is an assigned responsibility.

3. RUSADA lost its accreditation for a reason.

As a Swede, I am embarrassed for the Swedish handling of this. I live in Stockholm, the lab was in Stockholm, and I know the mess that was december/january here. Healthy people were forced to stay at home because they might have been in contact with a covid person. Covid is to blame for sure, but it wasn't a covid outbreak, it was a shortage of staff because healthy people couldn't work.

The Swedish lab should have flagged that they couldn't do it.

 

[Scott512]

I completely agree, however it is apparently clearly stated by WADA that testing should be conducted in 20 days.

Which is also odd as the samples are stored in a way that they are preserved for like a decade?

Yet the rules are the rules and the test in 20 days rules were not followed in the KV sample according to what WADA requires. That does not mean the positive test is not accurate it just makes people curious about what the hell happened and why did it take 6 weeks to do the test and then they spring it on everybody and this 15 year old after the team event. Not exactly a coincidence. Or was it?

 

[Mista Ekko]

As a Swede, I am embarrassed for the Swedish handling of this. I live in Stockholm, the lab was in Stockholm, and I know the mess that was december/january here. Healthy people were forced to stay at home because they might have been in contact with a covid person. Covid is to blame for sure, but it wasn't a covid outbreak, it was a shortage of staff because healthy people couldn't work.

The Swedish lab should have flagged that they couldn't do it.

Don't feel so embarrassed about it, Rusada were aware that this sample is pending testing
and they all could've pushed to rush it, did we see any evidence that another organisation was checking
to see what's going on during those 6 weeks?

 

[el henry]

As a Swede, I am embarrassed for the Swedish handling of this. I live in Stockholm, the lab was in Stockholm, and I know the mess that was december/january here. Healthy people were forced to stay at home because they might have been in contact with a covid person. Covid is to blame for sure, but it wasn't a covid outbreak, it was a shortage of staff because healthy people couldn't work.

The Swedish lab should have flagged that they couldn't do it.

Has there been any news in Sweden that the Swedish lab said they were at fault? That they couldn't do it?

Because here in the US, all we have seen is "no comment" from the lab. And then a bunch of people trying to connect the dots (Oh omicron, oh this) without any information from the lab.

The article I can't find (It was in the New York Times) had quotes from other feds saying, "I would have been on the phone every other day, sending receipt return emails, etc. to get those results. You just don't sit back and blame the lab when the Olympics are at stake." (paraphrasing)

But I can't find the article.

 

[4everchan]

1. As far as I know, we don't *know* when the lab received it or why the results were delayed. We know what RUSADA says. The lab is not commenting.

What delayed Kamila Valieva’s positive drug test? ‘Absolutely inexcusable,’ says U.S. anti-doping chief

The International Testing Agency confirmed Friday that Valieva, the 15-year-old skating sensation, had tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance.

nz.news.yahoo.com

2. If the lab is closed, or is slow, particularly before the Olympics, a fed typically does all they can to expedite results. (I am trying to find the article with the quotes, but cannot). I don't know (as in I don't know) if there is an assigned responsibility.

3. RUSADA lost its accreditation for a reason.

i keep laughing when i see the delays as an excuse exactly because of 3. If you cannot be authorized to process your own tests because you know why, then do not complain they come later.

 

[Jontor]

Has there been any news in Sweden that the Swedish lab said they were at fault? That they couldn't do it?

Because here in the US, all we have seen is "no comment" from the lab. And then a bunch of people trying to connect the dots (Oh omicron, oh this) without any information from the lab.

The article I can't find (It was in the New York Times) had quotes from other feds saying, "I would have been on the phone every other day, sending receipt return emails, etc. to get those results. You just don't sit back and blame the lab when the Olympics are at stake." (paraphrasing)

But I can't find the article.

"No comment" is the official comment from the lab. And that lab is Karolinska Institutet, an internationally well known hospital/university with high tech science and research, very well established in the global society of science.

 

[rain]

Which is a shame for everybody, as the value of an Olympic medal goes way down once the Games are over.

Just ask Canadian skier Beckie Scott. She didn't get her rightfully won gold medal from the 2002 Games until two and half years later, after not one, but two skiers who initially finished ahead of her were disqualified for doping. Can you imagine what opportunities there might have been for her as the first North American woman to win a cross-country ski medal had it been gold? And how much that would have inspired future generations to enter the program? Instead of getting to stand on the top of the Olympic podium in front of the world, she got her medal in a small (and let's face it, mostly ignored) ceremony on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

Kamila is allowed to skate!
https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Ad_Hoc_Media_Release_Beijing_8.pdf

 

[RatedPG]

In case this wasn’t posted:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

I’ve just started watching it.

 

[Sjs5572]

Would that be people in the media?
I missed anybody here calling it a "Magic pill".

It's called using a straw man argument to prove innocence.

That would make sense and be fair to this fifteen-year-old but there's so much pressure on CAS not to allow her to skate pressure from the ioc and pressure from the ISU.

I say let the whole thing run its course including the investigations and hopefully there's no major doping program in Russian figure skating.

Don't feel so embarrassed about it, a bunch of different organisations were aware that this sample is pending testing
and they all could've pushed to rush it, did we see any evidence that another organisation was checking
to see what's going on during those 6 weeks?

RUSADA didn't push for the results, because they are a tool of the Russian doping cabal. RUSADA has no real interest in clean sport.

 

[AlysaLiuStan]

What a joke.

 

[zanadude]

Wow. Time to prepare the popcorn.

 

[satine]

This poor sport.

 

[Corwin]

YEEESS!!

 

[Mirunna]

Kami is allowed to skate!
https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Ad_Hoc_Media_Release_Beijing_8.pdf

As a lawyer I think the decision is right. As I am reading this, she is allowed to skate but the issue is far from over. She could get her medal stripped after - the decision to let her skate is based purely on timing and procedural aspects. This is far from over.

 

[beachmouse]

This is a self-inflicted wound by the IOC for their leniency in previous Russian cases and is going to cost the organization hundreds of millioms of dollars in lost sponsorships over it.

 

[rain]

Wow, all credibility is gone. I will not be watching her, or her compatriots skate. Good luck to the rest of the women, who are being disrespected by this decision.

 

[Corwin]

Well, that's great. The first positive call. Now there is time to find all the mice involved in this provocation.

 

[Jontor]

Kamila is allowed to skate!
https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Ad_Hoc_Media_Release_Beijing_8.pdf

Yes! As I suspected, this case is not going away any time soon. We will be dealing with this for months.

But it was the right thing to do. Of course she should skate.

Unfortunately, many (ehrm... social media) has already convicted her and her team. So in the end this is a lose situation for everyone. And I feel for all the Russian girls competing tomorrow.