This all presupposes that an investigation establishes "No Significant Fault or Negligence" on the part of Valieva. I know that most of us want to assume this 15-year-old girl is completely innocent and that, even if there was actual doping involved, it was done by her coaches and/or doctors without her knowledge; but that might not be the case. That stance presupposes a certain ignorance and naïveté by Valieva that wouldn't seemingly match the experiences of her peers.
I linked to
a paper on junior Russian athletes' attitudes towards supplementation and medication earlier, but I think it's worth bringing up again (not only because of the considerations of both Hypoxen and L-Carnitine).
In an examination of the origins of these athletes' attitudes towards supplementation and medication, the (Russian) author does remark that "a large part of the responsibility for the use of supplements seems to lie with the doctors, the coaches, and the sport federations" (98), but the study participants don't come across as ignorant, manipulated dupes. These junior Russian athletes are aware, for example, that there is "Systematic use of medications for performance enhancement," (91) and they believe these "Medications can improve physiological functions and give performance advantage (e.g., increased capacity to transport oxygen and nutrients; increased cell metabolism, improved resistance to hypoxia)." (92)
Additionally, they're absolutely aware of the possibility of doping. The author remarks in multiple places about how they had taken part in "numerous anti-doping courses," and the author also believes that they've developed "good routines for checking medications for prohibited ingredients." (100 and elsewhere) The athletes also believe that, despite the perceived benefits of the supplements and medications, these substances "Might be prohibited under WADA code; risk of a positive doping test" and "'Serious' medications are controversial - connected to cheating and shame, even though they are legal." (92)
None of this paints the picture of young athletes blithely unaware of the realities of supplementation and medication and the possibilities of doping. There's even some mentions of how the athletes sometimes follow their friend's advice, including advice on sources of supply, and even experiment out of their own curiosity. "[T]he Russian athletes consider supplements and medications to be an essential part of their sporting life. In keeping with this belief, the athletes are both willing and motivated to take various substances." (94)
I think it's also worth mentioning that while this study focused on the use of non-prohibited substances, the author acknowledges: "Based on the existing research, the fact that Russian athletes believe in the effectiveness of non-prohibited substances appears suggestive of Russian doping susceptibility. A quantitative study by Hurst et al. (2019) suggests that if athletes believe in the effectiveness of legal performance enhancement, then they are more likely to be susceptible to doping. Beliefs and experiences among the Russian athletes are also similar to the findings of Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010), where elite young cyclists were convinced about the necessity of NS and had a strong belief in their effectiveness, which resulted in ample use of legal performance-enhancing substances and methods as well as increased openness towards doping in the future." (96)
I'd love nothing more than for Kamila to be incontrovertibly exonerated. Like I commented to my partner during the short program, I wish we could go back to the days when the biggest controversy around Kamila was how awful her costumes are this season or how boring her Bolero program is. But we shouldn't dismiss outright the possibility that she was knowingly doping.
