Kamila Valieva: Anti-doping Case and Follow-ups

[GGFan]

For long time fans: Is this bigger than the whole Tonya/Nancy thing?

Yes in the sense that it is impacting the actual Olympics more profoundly while the world is watching. Ultimately Tonya was not the favorite.

No in the size of the media coverage. Nancy Tonya took over TV in the US for over a month. The nightly news (the most prestigious 30 minutes of news) was covering it every night. The entire nation knew about It. This pales by comparison in that sense.

 

[Tomadeur]

Raising the age limit will mean that all athletes in the same competition will be treated the same way if a positive doping test is found. As it stands, Kamila can skate because she's a minor but any other athlete (16 or over) in her situation would have been provisionally banned from the Olympics while the investigation is pending.

I will quote myself for an answer:

To prevent something like this happens again you can of course raise the age minimum to 16, but it' neither an argument to raise the age minimum to 17/18 nor is it the only way to deal with it. You can change the rules for protected athletes, you can adress the anti-doping process (as example you can only compete if all tests taken more than one month before competition have been returned negative) and more.

But I don't see any improvement or protection of junior athletes in it. Of course you can say that the senior competitions are more important and you would rather dope for these events than junior events but that's too short thought in my eyes.

Because how do you even get the chance to compete in senior competitions (especially in Russia)? You have to be among the very best in a very competitive enviroment. If you enter the senior competitions at 15 or 18 imho the incentive to dope doesn't change.

And my fear is that the minimum age will be raised and that this will be considered sufficient. Then the situation will not change for a few years until it is determined that perhaps other (additional) measures are necessary.

 

[NaVi]

however, from the cases i have followed, it takes weeks sometimes months for the athlete to prove their innocence... let's say the results had been given earlier, are 2-3 weeks enough to prepare a defense and get a hearing and a ruling? I doubt it.. My belief is that if the positive test had been received, ROC would have sent Liza to the games... and in the best case scenario, Kamila might have been cleared to compete at worlds, maybe, if truly she is innocent?

This is a good point, this is typically true but there may be some quick cases that would be possible. If there was a recall on some sports supplement and that sports supplement was on their doping control form. Though I'm not sure they would be flagged in that case anyway.

 

[Alegria]

They protected Valieva, but they failed to protect other girls. I can't even imagine how does it feel not to know for months what place you got. I can even imagine the feeling of a girl, that will be 4 and behind Valieva. Is it a medal or no?
Olympic channel made a great documentary - "Take the podium". I advice everyone to watch it.

How it feels when Olympians receive medals after doping cheats are caught​

 

[BabySloth]

I'm so disappointed right now. It's Russian women and their amazing achievements that made me a skating fan and it seems some of it was all a lie. Actually it was because of skating that I started learning Russian too.
Unfortunately I can imagine that many of them were/are doping, it's just Kamila who got caught. This decision was not the right one and it will be extremely unfair for the skater who will come 4th and she might be awarded her medal in the mail (or not at all). I feel for Kamila, because she's a victim too, but she shouldn't have been allowed to skate.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

Would it be in any way possible to hold a ceremony at the WC for the skaters involved (including Kamila if she is podiums and is cleared)?

I don´t think this case will be solved before WC...

And I wonder what the RusFed will do about Worlds, still they send Kamila if she is still allowed to compete? Will the same happen at Worlds? No medal ceremony, flower ceremony and 25 skaters will qualify?

This is just a big big mess!

 

[Pantsu]

Wow. So RUSADA was right all along in this case and made the accurate call.

 

[Wafflecakes]

Wow. So RUSADA was right all along in this case and made the accurate call.

Lol... don't get excited.

There is still every chance that the medals get stripped after the fact. It was not a ruling of innocent.

It was more of a "you are a minor and thinking is hard so go compete while we gather our thoughts."

 

[4everchan]

Would it be in any way possible to hold a ceremony at the WC for the skaters involved (including Kamila if she is podiums and is cleared)?

the ceremony will be organised by the IOC, not by the ISU... I would think this would be unfair to the worlds podium... there is also no guarantee that the 3 winners from Beijing will also compete at worlds

 

[4everchan]

Yes in the sense that it is impacting the actual Olympics more profoundly while the world is watching. Ultimately Tonya was not the favorite.

No in the size of the media coverage. Nancy Tonya took over TV in the US for over a month. The nightly news (the most prestigious 30 minutes of news) was covering it every night. The entire nation knew about It. This pales by comparison in that sense.

the other thing that is wildly different is that the assault on a person is a criminal offence,.. doping is not.. doping of a minor may be however.

 

[Amer]

I have to reiterate that NOTHING good will come from this decision.
*the credibility & popularity of the sport is definitely at risk
*her medal is at risk of being taken away
*even if her medal isn't taken away her medal position will always be questionable
*her coaches will always be labeled as cheaters
*it will definitely leave a sour taste for skaters of other nations
*people will continue to distrust Russian athletes

I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting to list.

 

[lariko]

Okay, I understand the ruling on the timing of the issue not being Valieva’s fault and the act itself not being Valieva’s responsibility as a minor, but not on the part where it’s okay to give heart medication to underage athletes with huge cardio strains to train harder because they are protected from consequences if caught. The responsibility had to shift and it didn’t. It doesn’t feel right.

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

the ceremony will be organised by the IOC, not by the ISU... I would think this would be unfair to the worlds podium... there is also no guarantee that the 3 winners from Beijing will also compete at worlds

I understand, I just thought that given the situation the IOC could show up and hold one.

There is no solution that is fair. Fair to the most people would be she doesn’t get to skate but that ship has sailed.

 

[Alex Fedorov]

I'm so disappointed right now. It's Russian women and their amazing achievements that made me a skating fan and it seems some of it was all a lie. Actually it was because of skating that I started learning Russian too.
Unfortunately I can imagine that many of them were/are doping, it's just Kamila who got caught. This decision was not the right one and it will be extremely unfair for the skater who will come 4th and she might be awarded her medal in the mail (or not at all). I feel for Kamila, because she's a victim too, but she shouldn't have been allowed to skate.

It all depends on how you view the issue. If the legal, formal side of the issue is most important to you, this is one thing. But there is also a factual side. Everything that I have unwittingly read about trimetazidine in recent days points to only one thing - in fact, in reality, this medicine does not give any benefits in sport. To simplify - the drug allows you to increase endurance in people who experience heart problems. If a person is healthy, then the drug is useless. Therefore, it is wrong to say that Russian girls deprived someone of medals.

The fact that the fact of taking trimetazidine is a violation of WADA rules, I do not argue. It's just that this violation, whether it was made or not, in itself could not ensure Kamila's victory or somehow contribute to this victory.

Well, WADA should have been asked questions about their banned substance lists. Meldonium causes especially big doubts.

 

[Mista Ekko]

Wow. So RUSADA was right all along in this case and made the accurate call.

Regarding lifting the ban for right now their opinion matched the eventual decision of CAS,
apart from RUSADA not specifying (that I know of) at the time that they plan to further investigate,
that only came after WADA, IOC and ISU did their job as they were expected and appealed.

 

[draqq]

Well, guess I'll be skipping the woman's event and returning for pairs. Maybe I'll watch the women's event once the investigation is finally done. I hope Kamila skates well, but I don't think I'll gain any pleasure in watching the event anymore.

 

[eaglehelang]

I'm so disappointed right now. It's Russian women and their amazing achievements that made me a skating fan and it seems some of it was all a lie. Actually it was because of skating that I started learning Russian too.
Unfortunately I can imagine that many of them were/are doping, it's just Kamila who got caught. This decision was not the right one and it will be extremely unfair for the skater who will come 4th and she might be awarded her medal in the mail (or not at all). I feel for Kamila, because she's a victim too, but she shouldn't have been allowed to skate.

There will be a ceremony after the case is concluded.
IOC decided no flower and medal ceremony for Women's event if Kamila finishes top 3.

 

[Wafflecakes]

The idea that some people are pushing that the drug doesn't do anything absolutely blows my mind.

1. They are lying about the evidence. It provides benefits during training... which LEADS to benefits in competition.
2. WADA defines that not internet trolls, and they have defined that it is doping.
3. Obviously Eteri's team thinks it does something. Why would they give something to skater that they know is illegal and could get them banned if they thought it had no effect?

Its absolute insanity.

 

[4everchan]

It all depends on how you view the issue. If the legal, formal side of the issue is most important to you, this is one thing. But there is also a factual side. Everything that I have unwittingly read about trimetazidine in recent days points to only one thing - in fact, in reality, this medicine does not give any benefits in sport. To simplify - the drug allows you to increase endurance in people who experience heart problems. If a person is healthy, then the drug is useless. Therefore, it is wrong to say that Russian girls deprived someone of medals.

The fact that the fact of taking trimetazidine is a violation of WADA rules, I do not argue. It's just that this violation, whether it was made or not, in itself could not ensure Kamila's victory or somehow contribute to this victory.

Well, WADA should have been asked questions about their banned substance lists. Meldonium causes especially big doubts.

The problem with this kind of reasoning is that it reads as "WADA is wrong with their banned substance list, it's okay if an athlete uses one of these drugs"
While the athletes who want clean sport observe all the rules from WADA and avoid all the prohibited substances, no matter what they are.

There cannot be interpretation of the WADA rules... they have to be followed strictly.

 

[Magill]

Lol for all of those who keep saying the Japanese athletes and fed are "elegant people" for staying all of these doping dramas, Wakaba herself has been liking USOPOC, Johny, and Benoit tweets about this issue. Like no athlete is okay with this alright. They might not talk about, but it doesnt mean they are okay with it.

Btw, the medal ceremony will not taken place of should Kamila secure a medal
-inside the games-

F***, even Yuna has spoken, she barely posted anything unless for promotion and always politically correct.

What did Yuna say?