2022 Winter Olympics

[nanushka]

6 minutes ago, Helene said:

I don't think they need actual threats, particularly at Tutberidze's rink: they already have 14-year-olds with triple axels and multiple quads to take over.  Which skater has never been the point.

Why do ballet students and dancers hide injuries and eating disorders/disordered eating, from their parents and companies?  They know there is someone to take their place.  That is true of elite athletes as well, amplified in sports like skating and gymnastics and many of the "X" sports where many of the athletes are so young.

That's quite possibly true, though I think the world saw (pre-scandal) that Valieva was not just one of the pack of strong Russian skaters. Sometimes, with a remarkable enough talent, which skater can become the point. I imagine she was recognized as one they wanted to push as far as she could possibly go. I could certainly be wrong about threats, it's just a possibility that seems quite plausible to me. You're certainly right, though, that even without that there'd have been plenty of other pressures.

[abatt]

Kamila Valieva Banned Four Years Over 2022 Olympic Doping Case - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

At last we have a result.  Valieva banned for four years, retroactively.  She gets to compete in the 2026 Winter Games.  Since Russia is banned from intl. competition due to the war in Ukraine in any event, this seems like a slap on the wrist.  

Given that Valieva was only 15 when this happened, I'm a bit surprised by the imposition of this penalty on her.  I wonder what the evidence was, but it seems that she must have been aware that she was taking banned   substances.  Otherwise they would not have imposed personal liability upon a 15 year old.

No liability or ban on anyone else.  Does that mean that Eteri Tuberize and her team had no knowledge or involvement?

 

 

 

[Drew]

12 hours ago, abatt said:

Kamila Valieva Banned Four Years Over 2022 Olympic Doping Case - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

At last we have a result.  Valieva banned for four years, retroactively.  She gets to compete in the 2026 Winter Games.  Since Russia is banned from intl. competition due to the war in Ukraine in any event, this seems like a slap on the wrist.  

Given that Valieva was only 15 when this happened, I'm a bit surprised by the imposition of this penalty on her.  I wonder what the evidence was, but it seems that she must have been aware that she was taking banned   substances.  Otherwise they would not have imposed personal liability upon a 15 year old.

No liability or ban on anyone else.  Does that mean that Eteri Tuberize and her team had no knowledge or involvement?

 

 

 

The blood test is presumably the key evidence. For myself, I find it hard to believe  that Valieva’s coach is not aware of every thing her star pupils do, down to every sip of water, though some plausible deniability may be built into the system. And proving  that would be difficult unless Valieva were to turn on her coach which is not to be expected unless she and her family left Russia (as some Russian track and field athletes did).

I feel compassion for Valieva as a victim of those around her who now only suffer INdirectly, but if she is going to compete as an elite athlete, she has to follow the same rules as everyone else. (If one thinks doping is no big deal, then one can advocate for not having those rules. To me it poisons the sport in all senses of the word. Literally a doping athlete can train longer and harder.) Valieva doubtless could have been a hugely successful figure skater without cheating, but could she have done exactly what we saw her do? We will never know because she did cheat and got caught cheating...We all likely suspect that others brought up in the same system may also be cheating and didn’t get caught, but a blood test can’t just be ignored.

It is a very sad story.

 

Edited January 30 by Drew

[Helene]

The NYT article is incorrect in several ways.  The most glaring is that the International Skating Union has not yet decided what will happen with the Team Event standings -- or the singles standings in which Valieva was 4th -- and the IOC Council has to approve their proposal.  They are planning to make some kind of statement tomorrow.  (The ISU is in Lausanne, CET.) 

Valieva's suspension was always going to start from the date of her doping violation, which was in December 2021.  A four-year suspension is among the harshest sentences that WADA asked for.  There are repeat offenders who haven't gotten suspensions that long. All of her results in the four years are voided, and she's been ordered to reimburse prize sponsorship, and appearance money.  Those international results would be a European championship gold medal and a Team Event medal, if the Russian team is not disqualified alone with her results. I suspect Russia will flip the bird at any thought of changing their internal results or prize money or post-Olympic appearance fees in Russia.

For whatever reason, RUSADA, the national anti-doping agency was put back in charge after state-sponsored systematic doping was discovered in Sochi in 2014; however, Russian labs are not allowed to process the tests.  Several official labs were chosen by WADA, and, after Russian Nationals, RUSADA sent their samples to the designated lab in Sweden.  Sweden had decided to let Covid-19 rip, and their labs were short-staffed. 

However, all samples for the Olympics were supposed to be marked "Expedited," and the Swedish lab processed all of the "Expedited" samples before the start of the Olympics.  Everything else was in a queue to be processed by the staff they had.  RUSADA did not mark Valieva's sample "Expedited," the test wasn't processed until after the Olympics began, and the results were revealed after the Team Event, which is why the IOC put a stop to the Team Event medal ceremony.   Had RUSADA expedited the results, it's possible that they could have quietly given her a 30-day suspension without making it public, she could have withdrawn from European championships for "health" reasons, and it might all have gone away quietly. Right now, the Russian Olympic Committee is pretending not to know why the sample took so long to be processed. (Google translate works here.)

There was an three-person CAS panel on the ground in Beijing, and the case went to them in an emergency session.  Even though WADA rules were very clear that, while being a minor meant that there were different rules for procedures for minors -- there is a nod for privacy -- there was no difference in sentencing for minors.  That CAS paneled ruled that Valieva could continue to compete in the single's event, and their reasoning was to incorrectly extrapolate procedural rules for minors to sentencing rules.  RUSADA was ordered to investigate and come up with a decision, which was laughable, and which WADA and the International Skating Union appealed to CAS,  Nearly two years later, CAS ruled with WADA and the ISU.

There is a 30-day limited scope appeals process.  After the ISU decide what to do, Russia will decide on whether it will appeal the ISU decision. 

[Drew]

I always found it an oddly memorable coincidence that the Russian Track and Field athlete who blew the whistle  on the extensive doping in Russian Track and Field to the World Anti-Doping agency (including collusion of coaches) is...Yulia Stepanova. (I discovered this when doing searches for the Mariinsky-now-Bolshoi ballerina; stories about the 800-meter runner Yulia Stepanova kept coming up instead.) According to Wikipedia, she even wore a wire at one point and recorded conversations about doping.  Her husband had worked for Russian Anti-doping agency and he was also involved in exposing the extent of the problem there.

[abatt]

The reality is that there is a pipeline of immensely gifted Russian teenage girls, so the likelihood that Valieva will actually make the next Olympic team is dubious.  

Also, based on the news reports, it is now official that Russia will be stripped of its gold medal in the Team Event due to the Valieva doping decision, and the gold will instead be awarded to the US for that event.  Japan will get silver and Canada will get bronze.

As a result Nathan Chen will be the first US man to win two Olympic gold medals in figure skating.

Edited January 30 by abatt

[Drew]

6 hours ago, abatt said:

The reality is that there is a pipeline of immensely gifted Russian teenage girls, so the likelihood that Valieva will actually make the next Olympic team is dubious.  

Also, based on the news reports, it is now official that Russia will be stripped of its gold medal in the Team Event due to the Valieva doping decision, and the gold will instead be awarded to the US for that event.  Japan will get silver and Canada will get bronze.

As a result Nathan Chen will be the first US man to win two Olympic gold medals in figure skating.

Will Canada get bronze?  I believe the decision was not to award them bronze, but to give it to the Russians who were not disqualified as a team but simply lost Valieva's points. (If I remember correctly, then she performed the short program only.)  I believe Canada may appeal...I had trouble getting a different link to work, but this gives some of the story: 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2024/01/30/kamila-valieva-international-skating-union-bronze-wrong-canada-olympics/72405900007/

 

Edited January 30 by Drew
adjusting link

[abatt]

Yes, I heard about the appeal  relating to which country will receive the bronze.  

[Jayne]

I cannot understand the system that awarded Russia the Bronze team medal in the adjusted results.  Canada will appeal, as they should. 

I recall Gelsey Kirkland’s autobiography told of Mr.B suggesting that she (age 19) take amphetamine “vitamins” on the 1972 USSR tour.  Amphetamines for energy and/ or weight loss were common in the 1970s, but would be judged very harshly today.   
 

Miss Valieva has apparently been training in a similar bubble with a cultish coach, in a rarified environment.  I certainly hope she doesn’t suffer the same pitfalls that Gelsey did.  

Edited February 1 by Jayne