Kamila Valieva: Anti-doping Case and Follow-ups

[Amei]

It's getting real now.

IOC President denounces the "tremendous coldness" directed toward Valieva by her closest entourage after the free skate.

Edit: He uses words like "chilling" and "disturbing" and discusses the needless pressure placed on the athlete. The video in the article is worth watching.

IOC prez slams Valieva's entourage for 'coldness'

The IOC's Thomas Bach criticized Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's entourage for their "tremendous coldness" toward her after a mistake-filled free skate at the Beijing Olympics.

www.espn.com

I still think he was pandering to a certain audience, just remember his press conference happened more than a few hours after the competition which means a lot of social media reactions had already happened, its nice to know how people feel before you have to speak on something. Her coaches weren't awful to Valieva and didn't do anything different really from what we've seen from them when a skater under-perform. And the pressure put on the Russian ladies is from their own success, I mean look at it, they have won everything and swept a lot of events the last few years. I don't think anyone was anticipating a Russian lady faltering to the point it would cost them a podium spot prior to the start of the Olympics, it was only injury or covid was going to stop them from sweeping the podium.

 

[el henry]

We don't know that. Maybe her team advised her to accept the situation and she didn't want that? Let's not forget that this her profession and she's certainly trained very hard.
I think she would've been devastated if they'd banned her. More devastated than now? I have no idea. And the World would've thought that she would've won the event, if only she'd be allowed to compete. In hindsite this would be preferable to her now, but who could have known?
This is such a strange situation. We've seen skaters falter under pressure in the past. Why is this affecting us more? Because this pressure was unique or special? I'm not sure I really understand it. And I still think, that she didn't skate that bad and that the pressure that Sherbakova's good skate put on her, caused the mediocre performance.

I do not get the impression that Kamila would have pushed back hard on her team's strong advice (unlike Sasha, for example) but you are right, we do not know for sure.

If the team pulled out every stop to convince her to withdraw, then good for them. From my point of view, what happened was sadly all easily foreseen.

 

[TontoK]

from the article:
"He does not like the toughness of our coaches, but everyone knows that in elite sports, the coach's toughness is key to the students' victories,'' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later Friday.

Fine, Dmitry. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

But here's the thing: it's true that a good coach is tough...but a REALLY good coach knows that sometimes a little tenderness is needed, too.

What did Russia get at the Olympics that was worth this?

The world watched on in horror as one fell apart on the ice, one fell apart off of it, and the Olympic champion looked like she'd rather be anywhere else other than the shitshow that was unfolding around her. But, hey, All Hail Eteri.

 

[skatedreamer]

We don't know that. Maybe her team advised her to accept the situation and she didn't want that? Let's not forget that this her profession and she's certainly trained very hard.
I think she would've been devastated if they'd banned her. More devastated than now? I have no idea. And the World would've thought that she would've won the event, if only she'd be allowed to compete. In hindsite this would be preferable to her now, but who could have known?
This is such a strange situation. We've seen skaters falter under pressure in the past. Why is this affecting us more? Because this pressure was unique or special? I'm not sure I really understand it. And I still think, that she didn't skate that bad and that the pressure that Sherbakova's good skate put on her, caused the mediocre performance.

Yes, we've seen skaters falter under pressure but not like this. Not with this relentless level of media focus. Not while wondering if you're going to be allowed to compete at all. Not when your name is being dragged through the mud to this extent. And certainly not at age 15.

Under ordinary circumstances, I doubt that Anna's performance would have affected Kamila very much, at least not enough to cause the kind of breakdown she had yesterday.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

It's getting real now.

IOC President denounces the "tremendous coldness" directed toward Valieva by her closest entourage after the free skate.

Edit: He uses words like "chilling" and "disturbing" and discusses the needless pressure placed on the athlete. The video in the article is worth watching.

We've known how tough Eteri is for years, at least since that documentary four years ago where we saw how cold she was to Alina during training, so I wasn't surprised by her reaction in the K&C. For years I thought the tough environment was the key to their success, but now you have to wonder if anything else is behind these women being about to do jumps, and maintain energy to the end of their programs, that no one else in the world can match.

 

[matin calin]

one fell apart off of it

How is this Eteri's fault though? During her meltdown Sasha screamed "I hate her!" which I assume was directed at Anna. She was ok with losing to Kamila, as it was expected of everyone. But not to Anna.

 

[Skater Boy]

I'd say it's pretty important that the substance hasn't been shown to actually give an advantage in performance, it's just a "maybe" and the way it was also forbidden was bordering on incompetent since it first was a stimulant but then they decided it's not a stimulant at all, making it feel like they have no idea what they're doing and just decided to ban the substance on a hunch. That's pretty different from using something that's clearly been demonstrated to actually increase performance in my opinion.

But yeah, I don't get why Valieva was even allowed to compete. She couldn't mentally be there with everything that was going on. It would have been far kinder to her to prevent her from competing.


As for the suspension, Sun Yang got suspended for a whole 3 months for this substance, and he was an adult and all. For Valieva as a "protected person" it should be less than that, I'd imagine.

I am not God or some big official. I have no idea what their findings will be. I see the passion and anger from many perspectives. At th end of the day a 15 year ld child's lie has been ruined. If she knowing ly took the drugs well she should pay the price ut give her some benefit of the doubt and she has been sacrificed. WAtching her koate the freeskate was painful. I almost cried for her. And still she placed fourth people. Furth Pretty amazing a 15 yar old could still skate well enough to be 4th despite all the pressure, all the scrutiny all th snide comments, all the negativity.

 

[iceskater10]

How is this Eteri's fault though? During her meltdown Sasha screamed "I hate her!" which I assume was directed at Anna. She was ok with losing to Kamila, as it was expected of everyone. But not to Anna.

You assume?? Maybe it was directed at Eteri.

 

[MarMir]

For her team:
If they had had the courage, they would have advised Kamila, for her own good, to withdraw, to go home, to ride this out with the support of friends and family. They didn't. They wanted shiny gold instead, for some reason a "sweep" was more important than a young athlete's health. Irreparable harm resulted from *that* decision and they alone are responsible.

Even more interesting. Had they withdrawn Kamila, Tukhtamysheva would have taken her place. Tukhtamysheva is an amazing skater, and Russia would still have a shot at the sweep. However, Tukhtamysheva is not Eteri's student, but Mishin's, so I guess she might as well have not been Russian at all :/

 

[skatedreamer]

How is this Eteri's fault though? During her meltdown Sasha screamed "I hate her!" which I assume was directed at Anna. She was ok with losing to Kamila, as it was expected of everyone. But not to Anna.

If indeed Sasha was angry at Anna, she should know that it's not appropriate to direct disappointment at the winner in public. Part of being a good competitor is knowing how to behave when you lose. If you can't find it in your heart to congratulate the winner, you're better off not saying anything at all.

 

[dorispulaski]

To be accurate, Valieva was fifth in the FS, 4th overall.

 

[el henry]

Even more interesting. Had they withdrawn Kamila, Tukhtamysheva would have taken her place. Tukhtamysheva is an amazing skater, and Russia would still have a shot at the sweep. However, Tukhtamysheva is not Eteri's student, but Mishin's, so I guess she might as well have not been Russian at all :/

I do not think that they could have subbed in Liza, as Kamila had already skated (in the TE) and my understanding is, could not be substituted. Plus she would not have gotten to Beijing on time.

If I, a random person on the Internet, could see how this would have affected Kamila, why her team or Rusfed could not see it is beyond me. As far as I can tell, they were hell-bent on their sweep, at her expense.

What they were left with: no sweep, no glory, meltdowns, and a broken skater.

 

[MarMir]

If indeed Sasha was angry at Anna, she should know that it's not appropriate to direct disappointment at the winner in public. Part of being a good competitor is knowing how to behave when you lose. If you can't find it in your heart to congratulate the winner, you're better off not saying anything at all.

Again - these girls were never taught that. I see how in America even at kids' sport there is so much emphasize put on sportsmanship. Not so in Russia, and certainly not at Eteri's camp.

 

[Erin9]

What did Russia get at the Olympics that was worth this?

The world watched on in horror as one fell apart on the ice, one fell apart off of it, and the Olympic champion looked like she'd rather be anywhere else other than the shitshow that was unfolding around her. But, hey, All Hail Eteri.

They got gold and silver in women’s fs via Eteri. That’s all that matters. They wanted a sweep, but that didn’t work out. Who accomplished it didn’t and doesn’t matter. Nor does how they accomplish “winning” matter.

I don’t think Russia cares about the world’s opinion. They do as they like. They’re aware they’ll get little to no pushback.

 

[Erin9]

from the article:
"He does not like the toughness of our coaches, but everyone knows that in elite sports, the coach's toughness is key to the students' victories,'' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later Friday.

Fine, Dmitry. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

But here's the thing: it's true that a good coach is tough...but a REALLY good coach knows that sometimes a little tenderness is needed, too.

Coaches need to know how to balance being tough with being compassionate. Agreed.

I find nothing funny about this situation, but if I did- I’d find his response amusing just because it was such a typical, predictable response- from the Kremlin no less…..

 

[matin calin]

You assume?? Maybe it was directed at Eteri.

If i got it all right, Eteri was the one talking to Sasha at that point, this is why it makes more sense that "her" referred to someone else.

If indeed Sasha was angry at Anna, she should know that it's not appropriate to direct disappointment at the winner in public.

I agree but I don't think she was in the state to understand that she was being filmed or watched. She looked almost hysterical, it's probably not reasonable to expect courtesy and class from someone who's grieving so intensely and is totally engulfed by their misery.

 

[skatedreamer]

Again - these girls were never taught that. I see how in America even at kids' sport there is so much emphasize put on sportsmanship. Not so in Russia, and certainly not at Eteri's camp.

About Eteri's camp, I can believe that. It's very unfortunate.

 

[Mathman]

... it's probably not reasonable to expect courtesy and class from someone who's grieving so intensely and is totally engulfed by their misery.

Everyone in sports knows that sometime you win, sometimes the other guy does.

I remember one interview with Michelle Kwan about her Olympic disappointments. The interviewer said, "But you worked so hard!" Michelle's reply was, "Everybody works hard."

 

[el henry]

From Charlie White on coaching:

 

[Mathman]

^ "I get to teach them that they matter."

That is the missing piece of the puzzle in all this.