Kamila Valieva: Anti-doping Case and Follow-ups

[DancingCactus]

I've been mulling over this the whole day and I think the honorable thing would be to withdraw. She HAS been tested positive, and now they won't even have a medal or flower ceremony until this shit is cleared up and the other medalists from the team event also have to wait for their medals...The clean athletes deserve more.

 

[Mista Ekko]

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) has issued a statement in connection with the decision of the visiting panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Beijing to allow Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva to participate in the Olympic personal tournament.

"Regarding the information disseminated in the media about the delay in the analysis of the athlete's sample, we consider it necessary to report the following.

When planning testing and implementing doping control, RAA RUSADA strictly complies with the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Code and international standards, in particular the International Standard for Testing and Investigations and the International Standard for the Protection of Privacy and Personal Information.

The sample of the athlete, selected on December 25, 2021, was delivered to the laboratory in time enough to perform the analysis in a standard time frame.

After the expiration of the deadlines stipulated by the international standard, the laboratory informed the agency about delays in conducting analyses and reporting by the laboratory due to the next wave of COVID-19, the increase in morbidity among laboratory personnel and quarantine rules.

At the same time, in its messages, the laboratory indicated the deadlines for the readiness of the analysis results, allowing to receive information from the laboratory until the end of January 2022, that is, before the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Also, in January, the laboratory informed that the analysis would be performed as a priority, but the conclusion about the unfavorable result of the analysis was submitted on February 7, 2022.

Disclosure of other details concerning the procedure for analyzing the athlete's sample is unacceptable and may lead to a violation of the interests of the parties, primarily the "protected person".

After receiving the laboratory's conclusion, RAA RUSADA immediately started the procedure of processing the results, preparing a set of necessary documents, notifying all interested parties. At the request of the athlete's representatives to hold expedited hearings on the issue of temporary suspension, RAA RUSADA took all necessary measures as soon as possible to organize and conduct hearings by an independent Disciplinary anti-Doping Committee.

Currently, RAA RUSADA continues to process the results and investigate the case, as a result of which an independent disciplinary body will assess all the circumstances related to a possible violation of anti-doping rules," the statement reads.

And still no one accounts for the whereabouts of the sample from when it was picked up on the 25.12
till its arrival at the lab in Sweden on 19.01.

 

[mrrice]

Why would she do that? Why would she give up gold, money, fame and glory in Russia? Even if she is stripped of a medal, which is not certain at all since the sanction can be a reprimand with no suspension, she can even be a victim which I'm pretty sure is even better.

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to participate, because the important thing in life is not the triumph but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won but to have fought well." Sorry, just kidding...

Well, that didn't take long......This just popped up on my news feed while I was commenting on this issue. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/wi...-don-t-cheat-opinion/ar-AATOqHI?ocid=msedgntp

 

[flotsam]

Before discharging their anger on Kamila I hope they will consider that it would be the final nail in the coffin of ISU and judges credibility.
It's almost impossibile for me to imagine Kamila skating on her par (I fear a disaster), but if she will manager to do it and the judges will kill her how could we ever watch a competition again without changing channel every time a score is announced?
Reputational score base on a sequence of great performances is somehow understandable, but that would be "I give high/low GOE/PCS because I like/don't like the skater as a person".
Shooting their own feet

It needn't be an intentional thing. There is, unquestionably, an emotional piece to the scoring. When there's enthusiasm, when there's a big event, when they're seeing something incredible and new, etc, the judges as human beings are swayed in how they score. They're caught up in the moment, and their scores reflect that. And when the magic spell of a skater dissipates, their scores reflect that, too.

Valieva has had many people - probably most people who follow the sport - entranced for years, because she has so many admirable qualities as a skater. But the trance might not be so strong when the possibility arises that her talents were aided and inflated through banned performance-enhancing drugs, and when the trance wanes the imperfections might simply become more apparent.

 

[mskater93]

Just curious, why don’t the powers that be test her in Beijing and see what her current status is? Is it known if she was tested after the team event?

Because the drug isn't used for performance today, it's for training longer and recovering sooner. And it's not a three strike process. At least, not with any other athlete.

 

[Jammers]

I bet Russia is glad these Olympics aren't in North America with crowds.

 

[Mista Ekko]

I've been mulling over this the whole day and I think the honorable thing would be to withdraw. She HAS been tested positive, and now they won't even have a medal or flower ceremony until this shit is cleared up and the other medalists from the team event also have to wait for their medals...The clean athletes deserve more.

Maybe in the end they'll just find a way to get that sample eliminated.
like an episode of "The practice" where they found a dead person in someone's closet but they had to legally
suppress the findings of a closet when the defence lawyers showed that the police searched the place without a warrant.

 

[Magill]

no harm??? what about the American and Japanese team competitors, and even the Canadians, who are being robbed of their Olympic moment standing on the podium receiving their medal at the event they train their ENTIRE LIVES for??? what about the other 29 CLEAN competitors in the womens event who are being robbed of a clean and fair competition and again, losing the medal ceremony for the one moment they worked their entire lives for??? they are letting Kamila compete at the cost of ALL of these competitors, and that is nothing short of special treatment and unfairness. it's absolutely SHAMEFUL.

I think the deepest harm done is not the medals, nor the "Olympic moment", but the deeply demoralizing effect on those involved and those watching. And, yes, on Kamila, too. She's a minor. She should be protected from this kind of "protection".

 

[Ganya]

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) has issued a statement in connection with the decision of the visiting panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Beijing to allow Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva to participate in the Olympic personal tournament.

"Regarding the information disseminated in the media about the delay in the analysis of the athlete's sample, we consider it necessary to report the following.

When planning testing and implementing doping control, RAA RUSADA strictly complies with the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Code and international standards, in particular the International Standard for Testing and Investigations and the International Standard for the Protection of Privacy and Personal Information.

The sample of the athlete, selected on December 25, 2021, was delivered to the laboratory in time enough to perform the analysis in a standard time frame.

After the expiration of the deadlines stipulated by the international standard, the laboratory informed the agency about delays in conducting analyses and reporting by the laboratory due to the next wave of COVID-19, the increase in morbidity among laboratory personnel and quarantine rules.

At the same time, in its messages, the laboratory indicated the deadlines for the readiness of the analysis results, allowing to receive information from the laboratory until the end of January 2022, that is, before the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Also, in January, the laboratory informed that the analysis would be performed as a priority, but the conclusion about the unfavorable result of the analysis was submitted on February 7, 2022.

Disclosure of other details concerning the procedure for analyzing the athlete's sample is unacceptable and may lead to a violation of the interests of the parties, primarily the "protected person".

After receiving the laboratory's conclusion, RAA RUSADA immediately started the procedure of processing the results, preparing a set of necessary documents, notifying all interested parties. At the request of the athlete's representatives to hold expedited hearings on the issue of temporary suspension, RAA RUSADA took all necessary measures as soon as possible to organize and conduct hearings by an independent Disciplinary anti-Doping Committee.

Currently, RAA RUSADA continues to process the results and investigate the case, as a result of which an independent disciplinary body will assess all the circumstances related to a possible violation of anti-doping rules," the statement reads.

And still no one accounts for the whereabouts of the sample from when it was picked up on the 25.12
till its arrival at the lab in Sweden on 19.01.

Was there any official confirmation of 19 Jan being the actual arrival date? I remember It was indeed mentioned by Russia's Pozdniakov in an interview just as a hypothetical date it could have been - that is given that the result was announced Feb 7 and the international standard had to be about 20 days.

 

[Mista Ekko]

I think the deepest harm done is not the medals, nor the "Olympic moment", but the deeply demoralizing effect on those involved and those watching. And, yes, on Kamila, too. She's a minor. She should be protected from this kind of "protection".

I'm sure people from other disciplines will feel demoralised today as well

 

[florin]

till its arrival at the lab in Sweden on 19.01.

Well, exact dates in the Rusada message are truly missing. I would prefer to be provided with a detailed timeline of the sample's life history from December 25 to February 7.

But where did the date January 19 come from? Is this something official?

 

[skatedreamer]

I think the deepest harm done is not the medals, nor the "Olympic moment", but the deeply demoralizing effect on those involved and those watching. And, yes, on Kamila, too. She's a minor. She should be protected from this kind of "protection".

I agree 100% about the effect on the athletes but IMO, even greater damage has been done to figure skating in general: its integrity and its image. It's going to take a long time to recover from this.

 

[Ganya]

Well, exact dates in the Rusada message are truly missing. I would prefer to be provided with a detailed timeline of the sample's life history from December 25 to February 7.

But where did the date January 19 come from? Is this something official?

Some people here keep referring to it as 'established', while in fact it is not.

 

[Magill]

I wonder if she’s invited to the gala?

She'll skate her gala program backstage. It will be decided later whether to show it on TV or not

 

[Plisskin]

Internationally, if Kamila wins, people will say it was with the help of drugs. If she loses, people will say it's because she couldnt use drugs. And with how this investigation went, noone outside of Russia will believe if it is ruled that it was an accident. Overall a lose lose situation, that could have been avoided.

Actually, I've seen so many former figure skaters make comments about this. It wouldn't be possible to name them all. Some have even been on TV. They all ( former Russian skaters possibly excepted) have expressed disappointment, sadness, and anger at this decision.

I saw Mirai Nagasu made as statement, as well as Yelim Kim (in Korean), and countless others to name have commented about it. Outside of Russia, none of the skaters thinks this decision is fair. Either everyone follows the same rules or not.

 

[Mista Ekko]

Well, exact dates in the Rusada message are truly missing. I would prefer to be provided with a detailed timeline of the sample's life history from December 25 to February 7.

But where did the date January 19 come from? Is this something official?

Pozdnyakov interview

I don't know how to authenticate this,
But it's very strange that everyone's been avoiding talking about those dates.

 

[Mista Ekko]

Some people here keep referring to it as 'established', while in fact it is not.

We're taking the head of the ROCs word for it.

 

[AlysaLiuStan]

My heart breaks for Alysa. That poor girl has probably been robbed by cheating Russians since she was a junior. I hope at the end of this investigation all of Eteri's skaters medals are reallocated so Alysa gets the titles she deserves. (JWC, JGPF Champion)

 

[Scott512]

In my opinion IOC & ISU needs clean house. They just put black eye on the sport.
What damage have they done to clean skaters? I have been watching since Peggy Fleming won Olympics, begged my dad for pair of skates. Won’t be watching ladies skating.

You are wrong.

The code generally provides for leniency towards minors aka protected persons, but is silent on how protected persons are treated with respect to provisional suspensions. Because of that, the panel decided they could make up their own rules to apply to Kamila. Normally it’s the opposite: when a law contains a general rule where the drafters (people who wrote the law) could have, but did not, specify exceptions, the general rule is assumed to apply. Basically, the panel here made law -rather than interpreting it - in a way that was favorable to Kamila based on a pretty flimsy view of what was fair under the circumstances and in a way that conflicts with past CAS decisions.

Incidentally, CAS is not a court of law. It’s an independent body providing arbitration services to various sports entities like WADA, the IOC , etc, who voluntarily agree to bring cases before a CAS appointed panel and abide by the panel’s decisions. The arbitrators are not infallible, and despite the fact that I like Kamila’s skating very much (and as sorry as I feel for her), I think they made a terrible decision.

I would have preferred you said I am not 100% correct.

Are you saying KV is not immune to say a 1 or 2 year IOC suspension or something like that because she's still a minor?

Who made up their own rules? CAS? They only interpreted everything that the lawyers gave them and that the IOC gave them.

You make many good and fair points but you don't know all of what was discussed in that 6 hour 50 minute meeting. It is what it is and we have to roll with it.

 

[lv2sk8]

Pozdnyakov interview

I don't know how to authenticate this,
But it's very strange that everyone's been avoiding talking about those dates.

I agree 100% about the effect on the athletes but IMO, even greater damage has been done to figure skating in general: its integrity and its image. It's going to take a long time to recover from this.

If the ROC had any integrity, they'd withdraw Kamila from further competition. Anyone thinks it's even remotely possible?
There are no winners in this case. But there should be losers who created this situation in the first place; not the 15 year old who clearly did what the Tuberidze team asked her to do.