Kamila Valieva: Anti-doping Case and Follow-ups

[Flutzel]

Well, I think this was somewhat inevitable to happen in one sport or another. Doping is probably a lot more wide-spread in high-level sports than anyone wants to admit in general, and considering that Russia has been rocking as the ROC for quite a while now because of state-sponsored doping, it suggests quite a high level of systematic issues for them in particular.

It is a shame because I like the Eteri skaters, but I honestly can't pretend to be naive enough to think that if one person in that camp was given drugs, the others weren't - even if they really weren't, it's just so unlikely that it's difficult to conceive. Sasha is possibly my favourite women's skater and Valieva wasn't far behind, so this is disheartening. Whether Valieva gets to compete or not, this is going to cast a shadow over the ladies' event. This is not to speak of what this stuff can do the bodies of young athletes, which is obviously much more important than any discussions about medals, and how an athlete who did use doping can never be sure that their achievements really were their own (this is something I remember a lot of former Eastern German athletes mentioning in documentaries over the years, being from Germany).

 

[gsk8]

ROC Official Statement - English page translation.

Due to the fact that ITA, acting on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has officially released information regarding the athlete Kamila Valieva (hereinafter referred to as the "Athlete"), the Russian Olympic Committee considers it necessary to provide detailed explanations on the current situation.

On February 8, 2022, after the end of the team figure skating competition at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games 2022, the Russian Olympic Committee received information from the International Testing Agency (ITA) that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency RUSADA applied a provisional suspension to the Athlete starting from 8 February 2022, 11.36 am (Beijing time).

The Provisional Suspension was applied in connection with the receipt from the Stockholm Anti-Doping Laboratory of a notification of an adverse result in the Athlete's doping test taken on December 25, 2021 during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg.

In the doping test of the athlete, the prohibited substance “trimetazidine” was found, which belongs to class S4.4 of the 2021 WADA Prohibited List.

The doping test of an athlete who tested positive does not apply to the period of the Olympic Games. At the same time, the Athlete repeatedly passed doping tests before and after December 25, 2021, including already in Beijing during the figure skating tournament. All results are negative.

The provisional suspension status implies that the Athlete from February 8, 2022 did not have the right to participate in Russian and international competitions until the final decision in her case is made.

To protect the rights and interests of the Russian athlete, qualified lawyers were involved in this case, who provide the Athlete with all the necessary legal assistance.

In accordance with the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules and the World Anti-Doping Code, the athlete requested RAA RUSADA to hold an expedited hearing regarding the provisional suspension applied to her.

The hearing took place on February 9, 2022. Following the results of the hearings, the Disciplinary Committee of RAA RUSADA canceled the temporary suspension applied to the Athlete. The decision entered into force immediately.

In accordance with the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules and the World Anti-Doping Code, the decision of the Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee of RAA RUSADA to lift a provisional suspension may be appealed by interested parties to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS).

Thus, at present, the Athlete has the right to train and take part in competitions in full without restrictions until the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides otherwise regarding her status in relation to the Olympic Games.

In any case, on the merits of a possible anti-doping violation, a disciplinary investigation will be conducted by RAA RUSADA in accordance with the applicable rules in the prescribed manner.

Given that the athlete's positive doping test was not taken during the Olympic Games, the results of the athlete and the results of the team tournament during the Olympic Games are not subject to automatic review.

In addition, the Russian Olympic Committee draws attention to the fact that the doping test of the athlete, taken after the European Figure Skating Championships in January 2022, as well as her doping test taken during the Olympic Games, gave a negative result.

The Russian Olympic Committee is taking comprehensive measures to protect the rights and interests of the members of the ROC Team, and to keep the honestly won Olympic gold medal.

The OKR also proceeds from the fact that a full-fledged investigation will be carried out, as a result of which all legal and factual circumstances of what happened will be established.

 

[NaVi]

Personally, I preferred the Nancy/Tonya drama to this.

Considering Nancy was able to skate in the Olympics, this is far more tragic.

Valieva has been on my and a lot of people's radar since January 2015... almost half her life and even before people took notice of Zagitova. And her journey hasn't been consistently upward. For a while she was quite clumsy growing into her long limbs which made me think her potential was quite limited.

Team Russia - Promising Young Skaters

... Her and Nugumanova are both 12 now. If only they had been born A couple of months earlier we would not have to wait another year for them to enter juniors :cry: Gubanova and Nugumanova, totally different styles but both delights to watch. Nugumanova's SP...

www.goldenskate.com

I honestly think there is practically zero chance Valieva, Trusova, and Shcherbakova are all with Eteri by next season. I would not be surprised if at least one of them starts training outside of Russia.

I would not be surprised if we only see one Eteri skater on the podium and they don't get Gold. They're not having good practices(which doesn't always fortel) and I think they're going to be emotionally drained by all this drama. It would be better for Trusova and Shcherbakova for the drama to die down.

There's zero chance that Valieva did this on her own... so who gave it to her and who knew what?

 

[4everchan]

Well, weightlifting is on about year 15 of 'stop doing that doping stuff so blatantly or we'll tell you to stop doing that again' and only now is seeing its place on the Olympic program in real jeopardy. The IOC is not exactly quick to act on such issues.

tell me about it...

 

[Jungle2]

Considering Nancy was able to skate in the Olympics, this is far more tragic.

Valieva has been on my and a lot of people's radar since January 2015... almost half her life and even before people took notice of Zagitova. And her journey hasn't been consistently upward. For a while she was quite clumsy growing into her long limbs which made me think her potential was quite limited.

Team Russia - Promising Young Skaters

... Her and Nugumanova are both 12 now. If only they had been born A couple of months earlier we would not have to wait another year for them to enter juniors :cry: Gubanova and Nugumanova, totally different styles but both delights to watch. Nugumanova's SP...

www.goldenskate.com

I honestly think there is practically zero chance Valieva, Trusova, and Shcherbakova are all with Eteri by next season. I would not be surprised if at least one of them starts training outside of Russia.

I would not be surprised if we only see one Eteri skater on the podium and they don't get Gold. They're not having good practices(which doesn't always fortel) and I think they're going to be emotionally drained by all this drama. It would be better for Trusova and Shcherbakova for the drama to die down.

There's zero chance that Valieva did this on her own... so who gave it to her and who knew what?

We still have COVID, travelling restrictions, and vaccination problems , thus, international coaching is highly problematic

 

[moonkat]

We still have COVID, travelling restrictions, and vaccination problems , thus, international coaching is highly problematic

Good point.

 

[Anni234]

Look I love Kamila and her skating and I wanted her to get her gold here, because she is just that good and I don't think doping has anything to do with her exceptional skills. But more than Valieva, I love the sport itself. If she tested positive, either due to her own fault or the adults around her, she should not compete and that's that.

 

[zanadude]

Considering Nancy was able to skate in the Olympics, this is far more tragic.

I'm pretty sure I saw Valieva skating in the Olympics just a few days ago.

 

[rain]

12/25/21: Kamila pees in a cup at Russian Nationals for RUSADA, the Russian organization that is supposed to make sure Russian athletes aren't doing drugs.

Kamila's pee is then mailed to a lab in Sweden, presumably because Russia has a history of fooling around with athletes' pee.

02/07/22: Kamila skates in the free program of the 2022 Pandemic Games Team Event. Russ--I mean, the Russian Olympic...Camp? The Russian Olympics something, something...okay whatever, Russia wins gold.

02/08/22: The lab in Sweden finally gets around to testing Kamila's 2-month old pee. Surprise, surprise, it's positive for Chemical X.

RUSADA who, let's remember, are the Russian "anti"-doping organization, suspends Kamila. They're like *gasp* "Bad Kamila! Bad! We are sooo outraged by "your" poor decisions. You must be punished. You are banned."

Kamila is like "lol RUSADA, puh-lease. You're not banning nobody." And so RUSADA (again, a Russian organization) is like "Okay Kamila, you're right, so sorry, you are now officially un-banned. Case closed. We'll just come up with something to tell everyone later. Good talk."

Well now the IOC is slightly concerned. They're like "Hooooold up, RUSADA. What is this tomfoolery? You can't do that! We're the ones in charge of making sure this party becomes the utter disaster it is destined to be."

So now the IOC sends their lawyer, the ITA to take RUSADA and Kamila to the sports Supreme Court (CAS) asap cause you know...t-minus 5 days until the Women's SP...so they can try to undo RUSADA's undo of RUSADA's own ban on Kamila. Their deadline is 2/15 cause that's when Kamila is scheduled to place first in the SP. If they fail, well...lol. Prepare to hold your breath all over again through the free program. But wait! Luckily for Kamila she's underaged (which is probably why the media kept treating her as She-Who-Must-Be-Named) so even if found guilty, there is a chance that she will simply get a slap on the wrist. And the best part is we'll never know what went down in court cause she's little. So people are left to speculate. Fun.

Meanwhile the ISU is over in the corner like "Hello? Look here! Oh. My. Gosh. Was that a quadrippidal axel just now?....Hello? Anyone? Skating? Nathan? Hello??? Are we still relevant? Fine, will you pay attention if we appeal too? You'll all still watch the Grand Prix Series after we ban Russia right? Guys? Right?"

I just wanted to say, this is awesome. Everything about this makes me incredibly angry, but you made me laugh out loud.

 

[4everchan]

ROC statement : I am not sure why they talk about the time the test was taken. It really doesn't matter? My understanding about anti-doping violation is that once an athlete receives a positive test, they will be suspended provisionally until the length of the ban is decided. That ban applies retroactively to the date of the positive test, in this case December 25, 2021. Then, all results are wiped out. So Euro title and Team event results would be nixed. So.unless there is something II do not understand, the ROC argument doesn't mean much in terms of anti-doping law.

 

[Greengemmonster]

@Imagine thank you for the awesome summary. Made me laugh which is very welcome considering this ghastly situation.

 

[rain]

ROC Official Statement - English page translation.

Due to the fact that ITA, acting on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has officially released information regarding the athlete Kamila Valieva (hereinafter referred to as the "Athlete"), the Russian Olympic Committee considers it necessary to provide detailed explanations on the current situation.

On February 8, 2022, after the end of the team figure skating competition at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games 2022, the Russian Olympic Committee received information from the International Testing Agency (ITA) that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency RUSADA applied a provisional suspension to the Athlete starting from 8 February 2022, 11.36 am (Beijing time).

The Provisional Suspension was applied in connection with the receipt from the Stockholm Anti-Doping Laboratory of a notification of an adverse result in the Athlete's doping test taken on December 25, 2021 during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg.

In the doping test of the athlete, the prohibited substance “trimetazidine” was found, which belongs to class S4.4 of the 2021 WADA Prohibited List.

The doping test of an athlete who tested positive does not apply to the period of the Olympic Games. At the same time, the Athlete repeatedly passed doping tests before and after December 25, 2021, including already in Beijing during the figure skating tournament. All results are negative.

The provisional suspension status implies that the Athlete from February 8, 2022 did not have the right to participate in Russian and international competitions until the final decision in her case is made.

To protect the rights and interests of the Russian athlete, qualified lawyers were involved in this case, who provide the Athlete with all the necessary legal assistance.

In accordance with the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules and the World Anti-Doping Code, the athlete requested RAA RUSADA to hold an expedited hearing regarding the provisional suspension applied to her.

The hearing took place on February 9, 2022. Following the results of the hearings, the Disciplinary Committee of RAA RUSADA canceled the temporary suspension applied to the Athlete. The decision entered into force immediately.

In accordance with the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules and the World Anti-Doping Code, the decision of the Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee of RAA RUSADA to lift a provisional suspension may be appealed by interested parties to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS).

Thus, at present, the Athlete has the right to train and take part in competitions in full without restrictions until the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides otherwise regarding her status in relation to the Olympic Games.

In any case, on the merits of a possible anti-doping violation, a disciplinary investigation will be conducted by RAA RUSADA in accordance with the applicable rules in the prescribed manner.

Given that the athlete's positive doping test was not taken during the Olympic Games, the results of the athlete and the results of the team tournament during the Olympic Games are not subject to automatic review.

In addition, the Russian Olympic Committee draws attention to the fact that the doping test of the athlete, taken after the European Figure Skating Championships in January 2022, as well as her doping test taken during the Olympic Games, gave a negative result.

The Russian Olympic Committee is taking comprehensive measures to protect the rights and interests of the members of the ROC Team, and to keep the honestly won Olympic gold medal.

The OKR also proceeds from the fact that a full-fledged investigation will be carried out, as a result of which all legal and factual circumstances of what happened will be established.

This gives me zero confidence that this is being taken seriously and that they have any intention of doing anything, not just about Kamila Valieva, but about the necessary investigation into the entire school she is from.

There's zero chance that Valieva did this on her own... so who gave it to her and who knew what?

Exactly. that's really why this is their worst nightmare. It cannot credibly be blamed solely on the athlete.

 

[Greengemmonster]

So who is going to investigate how the doping occurred and who prescribed what meds etc?

Will there be an interview/inquiry to examine what meds were taken, when, how etc?

 

[Vlad Karigov]

Well, the war began, Russia will go with everything to defend his gold medal for cleanly won teams. In his statement reporting that Valieva came out clean in his test in the European Championship, if so, the conspiracy of systemic doping collapses. Buy his popcorn, this has for several weeks, I see Valieva skating the 15 before the lack arguments of COI.

 

[plushyfan]

Hi guys! I'm dying. I'm crying. When I heard it, I ran here to see if you could say anything comforting. But.. Kamila is the best!

I agree with Katarina Witt. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZzCFTdg2JE/

"Those latest terrible olympic skating news, have honestly touched me. Kamila Valiyeva is a young girl and child prodigy, who’s highly difficult performances and grace enchanted the whole world at only 15, a minor, depending on adults and she is not to blame here. This scandal is a dramatic turning point for her young and promising career and I sincerely hope that there are enough people by her side to support, to protect and encourage her
As an athlete, you always follow the advice of your confidants, in this case she probably followed her coach and medical team. You are taught from a very young age to trust them, they know what's right for you and what's wrong!!Kamila has learned her quadruple jumps with infinite diligence and courage. No doping would have helped her to land these!!! And certainly it would not help her with her artistic charisma! It is a shame, and the responsible adults should be banned from the sport forever!!! What they knowingly did to her, if true, cannot be surpassed in inhumanity and makes my athlete's heart cry infinitely.
I admire Kamila as a radiant star, who burst into the orbit of the international skating world, and I still very much wish she has come to stay. With her quadruple jumps and combinations, she shows maximum difficulty at only 15, which leaves me in absolute recognition! @kamilavalieva26 @olympics Foto Copyright Getty Images"

and read this,
Источник: http://sportwiki.to/Триметазидин

Recommendations for use in sports [ edit | edit code ]​

• hypoxic conditions.
• Unfavorable training conditions.
• overload prevention.
• Vertigo of vascular origin.

Special Instructions​

• Resistance to physical activity usually increases after 2 weeks from the start of the drug.

Check out the team doctor! He had doping case ...

 

[peese]

Why do you keep pretending that any of this is relevant?

It doesn't matter how much or how little the drug does. They broke the rules they agreed to.

I 100% agree! I don't care if it gives an athlete the ability to do a double back flip or put them to sleep mid way through the long program....doping is doping. And if it's on the banned list, que sera sera! C'est la vie! I competed in the late 70s, and even then there was a fairly lengthy list of what we could and couldn't take. I had a horrible cold at Nationals one year with an annoying cough and not only couldn't take cough medicine, cough drops were on the banned list too. So we toughed it out because those were the rules.

 

[gsk8]

So who is going to investigate how the doping occurred and who prescribed what meds etc?

Will there be an interview/inquiry to examine what meds were taken, when, how etc?

ITA and CAS

 

[zanadude]

They can leave the accusations meaningless to team of coaches, it is only known that a test of December 25, 2021 was positive for a prohibited medicine. You still have no confirmation of whether it is a false positive.

The standards in place by WADA accredited testing centers allow them to maintain a 1 in 10,000 false positive rate (source: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/maths...al-methodology-for-growth-hormone-misuse.page)

It does not seem reasonable to force other athletes into a disadvantage on the 0.01% chance that her test was the result of a false positive.

 

[Greengemmonster]

ITA and CAS

Before next Tuesday or they'll just make a ban/no ban decision by next Tuesday and investigate the rest of it later?

 

[sinless69uk]

I'm pretty sure I saw Valieva skating in the Olympics just a few days ago.

Only in the Mickey Mouse event.