Kamila Valieva: Anti-doping Case and Follow-ups

[whatif]

It will be interesting what happens next. Since the doping is essentially confirmed by Valieva's team, ISU should expect some punishment imposed by Russians on the athlete and her team.
If that does not happen, I hope ISU acts. I would support banning the whole Russian team from ISU competitions for 1-2 years, if they do not do something about it themselves. Sorry for some individual athletes but that's how it should be.

 

[yume]

It will be interesting what happens next. Since the doping is essentially confirmed by Valieva's team, ISU should expect some punishment imposed by Russians on the athlete and her team.
If that does not happen, I hope ISU acts. I would support banning the whole Russian team from ISU competitions for 1-2 years, if they do not do something about it themselves. Sorry for some individual athletes but that's how it should be.

Why athletes from other coaching teams and disciplines should pay? There is only one skaters with positive test, not 5 or 10.

That's why i said that the timing was too perfect. Publishing positive results in the middle of olys give maximum exposure and instigate that kind of passionate proposals.
If it had happened just before euros or a bit after, it wouldn't have been such a scandal and no one would have said that all Russian skaters should be banned.

 

[mrrice]

Watch the movie "Wrongfully accused" or read about witch hunting during Medieval times. May be then you could understand my point of view.

With the current high level of the testing, I don't think a false positive is possible anymore. I imagine that the samples taken are tested and then retested after a positive result. Sad situation and I feel for Kamila.

 

[gsk8]

Hello all!

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[Draculus]

If Rusfed sends Valieva to Worlds before she is cleared, then she is nothing more than a political propaganda item for Russia.

And idea what she propagandizes?

 

[Draculus]

If there's a possibility that this is true, I wish her coach would say so instead of blaming Kamila.

Where did Kamilla's coaches blame her for doping?

 

[klena]

Edit: And besides, once they committed to grandpa's drinking glass, they can hardly abandon that brilliant strategy.

Okay, Grandpa's glass is no worse than Teresa's lipstick

 

[plushyfan]

Okay, Grandpa's glass is no worse than Teresa's lipstick

Bad example..she was punished for 1,5 years, if I right remember

 

[klena]

I'll look for it and post when I get home.

Eteri's Instagram post about Kamila from today:

"Kamila Valieva is an Olympic champion in team competitions, our star. A very fragile and at the same time very strong athlete. The trials that fell to Kamila our whole team needs to go through together.
How revealing such situations are - those who smiled yesterday left the stands today, defiantly ignored us and attacked us like jackals, offering different ways of inquisition. All the better, fate takes these people away from us, as if exposing the truth"

 

[solani]

The provisional suspension was lifted, she can compete wherever she wants. Unless they think she might be disqualified afterwards, I can't see any reason why she would not be sent - except fair play, of course.

Sure. But the question is, what's in her best interest.

And idea what she propagandizes?

When the Ministry of Defence is protecting young skaters against evil forces, imagine what's going to happen if the crowd's reaction in France won't be supportive? What's going to be the big story in Russia? The crowd in China was very supportive and still the pressure was too much for her. Her wellbeing should be important, no matter the outcome of this investigation.

 

[Erin9]

You use quite strong words missing very important point in your analysis: Eteri created a revolution in women's figure skating and it came in stages. Very briefly:

Stage 1: Yulia. The flexibility that beat Coen's and the unseen before amount of transitions. But she was inconsistent with jumps
Stage 2: Zhenya. Feather-like skating, even more transitions, tanos, and unseen before consistency
Stage 3: Alina. Full backloading of both programs including 3Lz-3Lo - the feat no one was capable before and rippon jumps
Stage 4: 3A. Ultra-C jumps en masse including the toughest quads
Stage 5: Kamila - a perfect skater, the best ever

In each next stage the former leaders could not compete with new ones. That's the reason why they faded. None of them would be "disposable, replaceable commodities" should they continue competing for your country whatever it is. Kurakova, Gubanova, Shabotova would likely quit if they continued in Russia - with the current quota system they won't get even GP stages, even B competitions. But now we saw them all at the Olympic games. If Alina wanted to skate for Italy she could skate untill Caro's age going to many worlds and Olympics. The thing is that she does not care about skating for Italy ending up in the second or third warm-up group. Is she "disposable replaceable commodity" - the term from your diary? Not in my diary.

Now the question is whether we are going to have stage 6 in this revolution? Or if Kamila is ruined whether Sonya Akatyeva replaces her at stage 5? I hope the latter won't happen. I hope that Kamila will turn the page and she will have the next Games as the ultimate goal. If the age limit is raised Sonya will be ineligible. And I see no one in Russia but Akatyeva who could challenge Valieva in the years to come let alone other countries.

I’m not going to address all your points, but touch on a few. (I’m afraid I may be going OT a bit now though.)

Frankly- I think Eteri is getting credit for some things that I don’t think any coach deserves that much credit for.

Consistency- for one. Nathan Chan is a very consistent skater too. So was Medeveda. Some of that is skill and mental abilities that no coach or sports psychologist can perfect. If it was that easy to teach- Eteri- and others- could do that with all of them. That’s the athlete.

I think Kamilia is a complete skater. Her talent has been honed, and sure she needed a coach for that, but her IT factor is just something she has. I don’t think Eteri deserves credit for that. I thought G & G had something similar. I don’t think that can be bottled up or taught.

Everything that happened to Kamilia at the Olympics reflects poorly on Eteri and her team imo. Certainly how she spoke to her after she fell apart in the free skate. I fail to see how that was helpful.

I thought Kamilia’s short in the team was a masterpiece. And not a quad in it.

I didn’t think Alina’s back loading was a positive. It created an uneven program that I didn’t care for. Led to a disaster at Worlds. And, unless I’m remembering incorrectly, isn’t even allowed anymore. Not a positive imo regardless.

The quads are extraordinary to watch - but I’m not yet convinced they’re actually GOOD for women’s bodies or women’s fs. Jury is very much out on that as far as I’m concerned.

Flexibility- I remember all the flexible, creative female skaters Moskvina nurtured.

I don’t think Eteri created a revolution. That’s for sure. She has a revolving set of teenagers pushing boundaries, winning, getting injured, getting pushed out and retiring young. That’s it.

 

[mrrice]

Could you please quote Eteri blaming Kamila? There was no such thing.

You know, I said I wouldn't get involved in this issue and here I am...Sorry People.....Here's just one of the articles but, believe me, there are several more in the headlines today. https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladi...-coaches-after-skating-final/?sh=7d93de3a3d1b

 

[Justlooking]

When the Ministry of Defence is protecting young skaters against evil forces, imagine what's going to happen if the crowd's reaction in France won't be supportive? What's going to be the big story in Russia?

It seems to be "fake news" ,it just some skating school /military school who did a video, and some guy retweeted it was the Ministry of Defense.

 

[Ares]

• Yesterday at 6:41 PM
• Add bookmark
• #4,592

"I wonder...I didn't watch any of The Skating Lesson or listen to Polina's podcast, but there is a sublingual (under the tongue form of the natural supplement L-Carnitine) that might explain the drops. I don't necessarily want to play devil's advocate, but you have to think if the Russian girls were using under the tongue drops publicly in a locker room where other skaters could see them and not doing anything to hide that, why the drops would even be illegal substances? I think I'll wait for more of the whole K.V. story to come out and I hope all of the truth behind this scandal is found, especially the whole pattern and training practice of endurance doping to produce unnatural super-(quad-producing) soldier serum results.

But Polina Edmuds (from the post about her podcast I started this discussion) have already claimed all of them dopers. 'It is very different from a clean athletes' she said after she explained that Plushenko, Tuktik and Bobrova had used meldonium before it was banned."

I'm taking these quotes and responding to them concerning Polina Edmonds's comments. I first want to say that I hold very little that Polina Edmonds says with much/any significance or respect. IMO, Polina has a trail of bitter tears following her own bitterness over her bigger than imagined career that she she thinks she had. That she would actually call out Russians and claim that that she saw them doping is ridiculous IMO. What could this solution be that they put under their tongues? Glucose, maybe? WHO KNOWS? But for Polina to go out there and accuse others of doping is just wrong, outrageous and and unprofessional. Reeks of bitterness, IMO.


I am 100% sure that I would suspect Alysa Liu's coaching team if she was caught doping. Why would you even say that? You really think that Alysa all on her own would try to "dope" to improve her chances???? What a character assassination of a 16 y/o girl. ( Including all the attacks on Kamila, who is only 15. ) Y'all can do better. Much. better.

I have watched that Skating Lesson video with Polina Edmunds and she was very polite but painfully objective there. She did not call all Russians dopers either. For her it was also suspicious how quickly basically without a warm-up as long as that of her own the young Russians could do difficult jump combinations one after another.

 

[mrrice]

Eteri's Instagram post about Kamila from today:

"Kamila Valieva is an Olympic champion in team competitions, our star. A very fragile and at the same time very strong athlete. The trials that fell to Kamila our whole team needs to go through together.
How revealing such situations are - those who smiled yesterday left the stands today, defiantly ignored us and attacked us like jackals, offering different ways of inquision. All the better, fate takes these people away from us, as if exposing the truth"

I hadn't seen that post but it sure is nice to read. I am really worried about Kamila and her state of mind right now. I'd love to say that things will be ok but, I don't see that happening once she gets to an international event. There's a reason that this is still all over the headlines here in the US as some believe the Team Gold should be given to the US and the other teams moved a spot.

 

[skatedreamer]

I’m not going to address all your points, but touch on a few. (I’m afraid I may be going OT a bit now though.)

Frankly- I think Eteri is getting credit for some things that I don’t think any coach deserves that much credit for.

Consistency- for one. Nathan Chan is a very consistent skater too. So was Medeveda. Some of that is skill and mental abilities that no coach or sports psychologist can perfect. If it was that easy to teach- Eteri- and others- could do that with all of them. That’s the athlete.

I think Kamilia is a complete skater. Her talent has been honed, and sure she needed a coach for that, but her IT factor is just something she has. I don’t think Eteri deserves credit for that. I thought G & G had something similar. I don’t think that can be bottled up or taught.

Everything that happened to Kamilia at the Olympics reflects poorly on Eteri and her team imo. Certainly how she spoke to her after she fell apart in the free skate. I fail to see how that was helpful.

I thought Kamilia’s short in the team was a masterpiece. And not a quad in it.

I didn’t think Alina’s back loading was a positive. It created an uneven program that I didn’t care for. Led to a disaster at Worlds. And, unless I’m remembering incorrectly, isn’t even allowed anymore. Not a positive imo regardless.

The quads are extraordinary to watch - but I’m not yet convinced they’re actually GOOD for women’s bodies or women’s fs. Jury is very much out on that as far as I’m concerned.

Flexibility- I remember all the flexible, creative female skaters Moskvina nurtured.

I don’t think Eteri created a revolution. That’s for sure. She has a revolving set of teenagers pushing boundaries, winning, getting injured, getting pushed out and retiring young. That’s it.

I agree with everything you said…except that I do think it’s a little early to compare Kamila to G & G. JMO.

 

[solani]

It seems to be "fake news" ,it just some skating school /military school who did a video, and some guy retweeted it was the Ministry of Defense.

So this is a fake twitter account?
https://twitter.com/i/status/1494304905686835202

 

[skatedreamer]

You know, I said I wouldn't get involved in this issue and here I am...Sorry People.....Here's just one of the articles but, believe me, there are several more in the headlines today. https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladi...-coaches-after-skating-final/?sh=7d93de3a3d1b

I believe the post about “blame” related to Eteri allegedly blaming Kamila for ingesting the drug. She never did that, as far as I know.
She did scold Kami for “letting go” of her LP. That’s what Bach was talking about. However, that is entirely different from blaming Kamila personally for taking the drug.
Believe me, I am no fan of Eteri but let’s not accuse her of something unless it’s actually proved by a reliable source.

 

[mrrice]

I believe the post about “blame” related to Eteri allegedly blaming Kamila for ingesting the drug. She never did that, as far as I know.
She did scold Kami for “letting go” of her LP. That’s what Bach was talking about but that is entirely different from blaming Kamila personally for taking the drug.

I understand. I think that's why I was upset with Eteri. I realize these skaters are supposed to be able to withstand pressure but, this was an entirely different kind of pressure. There were so many headlines and I'm SURE Kamila must have heard rude comments from the other skaters, and possibly coaches in the locker room. The skaters will eventually cross paths in the warm up and I bet she heard comments that were distracting while she was preparing for her LP.

 

[el henry]

The US team had a meeting with Thomas Bach about their medals, and used the time to advocate for clean sport

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2022/02/20/us-figure-skaters-team-event-medals-doping/

“This is an opportunity for this sport to take strides and it would be a shame if it gets buried under the rug,” [Zach] Donohue said. “One of the main points [is] to put pressure [on the IOC], like: The world is watching, and we have a chance to stand for something more than just one Games, but for the future of the integrity of the sport.”

.....

Asked if he thought the U.S. team’s stand would create a positive change, he nodded.

“I would hope so,” [Vincent Zhou] said. “I would hope all of this, including the media firestorm … that the bigger picture is everyone can see the importance of clean sport and fair competition.”