From Russia With Love [#40]: Summer 2021 & into the Olympic season

[screech]

Thank goodness that Mother Russia still has the Rocket in reserve!

If Kamila disqualified for the rest of Games…a call to Empress Liza?

Since Kamila has already competed a substitute cannot be called in (a la Vincent Zhou). If Liza came, since Kamila has competed, that means ROC would have had 4 ladies participate in the Games instead of the permitted 3. If it were Anna or Sasha, then it would be allowed, since they have not competed.

Oh no! I think I'm going to be sick! And if Kamila is supposed to be 'protected', how is her identity known??

Since she's the only competitor under 16, if they announced that the athlete is 'protected' it's obvious who it is, even without her name being released..

 

[ribbon]

If Dave Lease is right then that points to team doctors, I imagine, and coach knowledge. Oh boy….

 

[Frau Muller]

Since Kamila has already competed a substitute cannot be called in (a la Vincent Zhou). If Liza came, since Kamila has competed, that means ROC would have had 4 ladies participate in the Games instead of the permitted 3. If it were Anna or Sasha, then it would be allowed, since they have not competed.


Since she's the only competitor under 16, if they announced that the athlete is 'protected' it's obvious who it is, even without her name being released..

But that was the Team Event. Women indiv draw (& competition) not until next week! Call to Liza Tuk!!! She’s been practicing, as alternate, in Krasnoyarsk.

 

[DobrinFan]

If Dave Lease is right then that points to team doctors, I imagine, and coach knowledge. Oh boy….

Well ONE doctor, in particular, already has a history of doping rowers......

 

[MarieM]

Well now it's reported it's trimetazidine who is banned only during competitions. If I can trust L'équipe.
Well I checked, it's banned for everything.

 

[irenemulindwairen]

Well ONE doctor, in particular, already has a history of doping rowers......

Why does the the ROC keep him on if he is well known for doping athletes. Who recruited this doctor to work for Khrustalny club in the first place?

 

[Sylvia]

Well now it's reported it's trimetazidine who is banned only during competitions. If I can trust L'équipe.
Well I checked, it's banned for everything.

«Это как мельдоний». Спортивный врач — о предполагаемом препарате в допинг-пробе Валиевой

«Это как мельдоний». Спортивный врач — о предполагаемом препарате в допинг-пробе Валиевой

www.championat.com

Sports doctor Nikita Karlitsky spoke about the drug found in the doping test of figure skater Kamila Valieva .
Earlier, the fact that the drug trimetazidine was found in Valieva’s sample was reported by journalist Vasily Konov
“Trimetazidine is prohibited. It's like meldonium. It protects the heart and brain during intense exercise. Typically, all such drugs are analyzed for two to three weeks during the doping test. But after a positive result, he could be sent for rechecking, holidays, then all the cases. But the fact that it coincided now is something mythical. Perhaps they double-checked before blaming. Samples are stored up to 10 years.
This drug may be approved. To do this, you need to get a therapeutic exception and enter data about its use into the Adams system. When WADA has doubts, they should not report it, ”Karlitsky said in an interview with the correspondent of the Championship, Andrey Pankov.

Konov reported that trimetazidine (micro-dose) was found in Valieva’s sample taken in December 2021.

 

[Frau Muller]

Russia TV now reporting that Russia stripped of gold in TE. Also, Valieva banned from indiv event.

I’ll post the TV news once it’s on YouTube. In meantime this online report:

Valieva will not be allowed to the individual event, and the team event’s medals will be taken away from the entire Russian team

As it became known to SE, Kamila Valieva, who is suspected of violating anti-doping rules, will be suspended from the competition and not allowed to participate in the individual tournament.

fs-gossips.com

 

[screech]

Guaranteed there will now be testing done on the rest of the Russian athletes, especially Eteri's students. If Kamila tested positive, I wouldn't be surprised if the team doctor tried to provide the substance to Anna, Sasha, Morisi, etc. I sincerely hope they are 100% negative, though.

Heartbroken for Kamila. Even though she's the one who tested positive, IMO she's a victim in this, as she's just a teenager who was
following the guidance of the trusted adults in her life.

 

[coppertop1]

Lord all mighty. Did she take pseudoephedrine for a stuffy nose or something? Even if she is allowed to continue, the stress is going to be immense. The Russians never fail to do something stupid.

Ugh, if that's the case it's Andrea Raducan all over again.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

If true, this is a tragedy for this poor 15 year old girl, who dedicated her entire freaking life to skating. It's a tragedy for figure skating in general. I hope karma is coming for Eteri. HARD.

 

[Vash01]

Guaranteed there will now be testing done on the rest of the Russian athletes, especially Eteri's students. If Kamila tested positive, I wouldn't be surprised if the team doctor tried to provide the substance to Anna, Sasha, Morisi, etc. I sincerely hope they are 100% negative, though.

Heartbroken for Kamila. Even though she's the one who tested positive, IMO she's a victim in this, as she's just a teenager who was
following the guidance of the trusted adults in her life.

Is this confirmed? I would wait until there is an official announcement. Kamila is the youngest. This could be devastating for her. I hope it is not Kamila.

I had read earlier that Russia is very careful in checking every medicine their athletes take because bad things had happened to innocent athletes who took e.g. A cold medicine.

Does the whole team lose the medals or just the athlete who failed the drug test?

What kind of legal issues are they dealing with? I got up late, so I haven't read all the posts. Just went to the most recent ones.

 

[angi]

All I can think about is that I hope someone is taking care of Kamila. She is 15 and in Beijing with no parents or family members. She is about to be in the middle of a huge shit storm that is guaranteed to get a lot of attention from worldwide media. And since I have no doubt she will be thrown under the bus and will be crucified in Russia (it already started), I hope she will be surrounded by people whose number one priority is her well-being. The only thing I care about in the short term is her well-being. In the long term, I hope this will lead to the inspection of what exactly is going on at Sambo.

 

[Vash01]

Which oeopke

Not surprised. When will these people ever learn? Why rob an athlete of a career of a sport he/she has dedicated themselv

Isn

Guaranteed there will now be testing done on the rest of the Russian athletes, especially Eteri's students. If Kamila tested positive, I wouldn't be surprised if the team doctor tried to provide the substance to Anna, Sasha, Morisi, etc. I sincerely hope they are 100% negative, though.

Heartbroken for Kamila. Even though she's the one who tested positive, IMO she's a victim in this, as she's just a teenager who was
following the guidance of the trusted adults in her life.

Isn't she 'protected' as she is under 16?

 

[Polaris]

Wow. After all the years of debating over who gets ladies gold OGM and years of predicting Kamila was a lock for OGM, THIS happens?

i'm shocked and have ALOT of questions. Did camp Tutberidze know? Did RusFed know? Did Valieva know? Are Anna and Sasha affected as well? If they aren't, why was Kamila the only one affected?

 

[DreamSkates]

Russia TV now reporting that Russia stripped of gold in TE. Also, Valieva banned from indiv event.

I’ll post the TV news once it’s on YouTube. In meantime this online report:

Valieva will not be allowed to the individual event, and the team event’s medals will be taken away from the entire Russian team

As it became known to SE, Kamila Valieva, who is suspected of violating anti-doping rules, will be suspended from the competition and not allowed to participate in the individual tournament.

fs-gossips.com

If this is on Russian tv, then that is the answer we are all wondering about. I think her coaching team should take responsibility for this ruining of such a skilled and accomplished athlete. I wonder if her career is over and forever tarnished. One can understand the use of certain drugs for the heart but then, if the heart is not in 100% health, why push this young person so that she has to take a drug to avoid a cardiac event?

 

[Primorskaya]

Russia TV now reporting that Russia stripped of gold in TE. Also, Valieva banned from indiv event.

I’ll post the TV news once it’s on YouTube. In meantime this online report:

Valieva will not be allowed to the individual event, and the team event’s medals will be taken away from the entire Russian team

As it became known to SE, Kamila Valieva, who is suspected of violating anti-doping rules, will be suspended from the competition and not allowed to participate in the individual tournament.

fs-gossips.com

They might be jumping the gun here. I've seen no official announcement of this elsewhere and FSG isn't exactly the most reliable source.

 

[DreamSkates]

Posted Feb. 9 at 10:55 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The situation is still under investigation.
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/s...y-delayed-over-legal-consultation-2022-02-09/

 

[Judy]

If Dave Lease is right then that points to team doctors, I imagine, and coach knowledge. Oh boy….

Oh no! I think I'm going to be sick! And if Kamila is supposed to be 'protected', how is her identity known?? This would put a HUGE asterisk on the women's results, if she's not allowed to compete! Poor kid, she's just a little girl! I hope against hope that this turns out well after all!

In the past yes. With social media unfortunately not.

I agree that there is a huge difference between a 15 year old and an older competitor knowingly taking a banned substance ().

We’ll have to wait and see what IOC announces and what banned substance it officially is.

 

[museksk8r]

I am in tears. This is absolutely awful!

 

[Viscaro]

Oh wow. This terrible and sad.

The relevant paragraphs of L'équipe article that MarieM was talking about, googletranslated (source) :

In a press conference, the European champion explained that she had told her mother at the age of 3 that she would be Olympic champion. The dream had come true and Valieva, favorite of the individual event (next Tuesday and Thursday), seemed well on her way to reliving it a second time. Except that the medal ceremony, scheduled for Tuesday evening, was postponed. And that the girl did not appear in training on Wednesday morning, unlike other Russian skaters, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova.

At the end of the evening in Beijing, while the IOC had not made new elements public, the specialized site insidethegames affirmed that the control, carried out before the start of the 2022 Olympic Games, concerned Kamila Valieva. “The exact nature of Valieva's problem is unclear but the situation is complicated because Valieva, according to the World Anti-Doping Code, is a protected person. A special status for children under sixteen aimed at protecting their anonymity and adapting possible sanctions.

Neither the IOC nor the international federation (ISU) had confirmed this information at the end of the evening in Beijing. If it were to be, the questions would be multiple. First on the consequences for Valieva, whose participation in the individual event now seems unlikely if this information is confirmed. But also for those around her: Eteri Tutberidze also coaches the two other Russian skaters involved and she has been one of the major coaches in world skating since 2014.

The ISU regulations being imprecise, there is also the question of the revised classification of the team event (Russian Olympic Committee disqualified or losing only the points won by Valieva). The only certainty is that this case could become one of the biggest scandals of the Olympics.

I guess wait and see (and the US do not have team gold yet), but indeed this is awful.

 

[Excidra]

The reason Russian athletes are competing under ROC is because of the doping issue involving some of their athletes. One would think they would learn from this, but here we are. No Russian sweep of the ladies medals, I guess.

On the bright side Canada wins Team Bronze and I am freaking here for it.

 

[Bigbird]

Words cannot express just how disappointing this is.

 

[Amantide]

They might be jumping the gun here. I've seen no official announcement of this elsewhere and FSG isn't exactly the most reliable source.

The official announcement might be delayed because of the fact that she is "protected" and the issue is still under investigation. So they are being double careful in this case, especially with announcements.

However, it's extremely bizzarre and almost unbelievable to me that they would knowingly give a banned drug to her (or any athlete for that matter) after what happened in 2018. Especially, doing this in the Olympic season when the effects of 2018 are still tangible (e.g. Russian athletes competing under ROC). It's extremely hard for me to believe they could do this on purpose. I hope there is an explanation for this and it turns out well for her. But even if it turns out well, her reputation has been tarnished (not to mention what it does psychologically before a competition) and this will reflect on all the other skaters as well. There is no room for any error for them whatsoever. This is a bad situation whichever way it goes.

 

[aka_gerbil]

The assumption is that coaches or someone else official have her the drug, but we don’t know that. No one else has had a positive test. Maybe it was someone else in her life. Also, she’s 15, not 5. 15 year olds sometimes do stupid things. Let’s wait for more information.

 

[B.Cooper]

The official announcement might be delayed because of the fact that she is "protected" and the issue is still under investigation. So they are being double careful in this case, especially with announcements.

However, it's extremely bizzarre and almost unbelievable to me that they would knowingly give a banned drug to her (or any athlete for that matter) after what happened in 2018. Especially, doing this in the Olympic season when the effects of 2018 are still tangible (e.g. Russian athletes competing under ROC). It's extremely hard for me to believe they could do this on purpose. I hope there is an explanation for this and it turns out well for her. But even if it turns out well, her reputation has been tarnished (not to mention what it does psychologically before a competition) and this will reflect on all the other skaters as well. There is no room for any error for them whatsoever. This is a bad situation whichever way it goes.

"Banned" drugs can be given if a Therapeutic Use Exemption is applied for and approved. The paperwork is done thru the Russian version of USADA and then forwarded to WADA for approval. Angina is not uncommon in athletes, especially those who have electro-physiological imbalance of ions, and that can be due to many things...eating disorders (quite common), malnutrition, other medications/drug regimens. One would think that the Russian federation would be on top of this...checking all medicines that are given to their athletes, to avoid any appearance of impropriety. One would think that they would have learned from their historical doping issues. Sad that this has happened.

 

[Amantide]

The assumption is that coaches or someone else official have her the drug, but we don’t know that. No one else has had a positive test. Maybe it was someone else in her life. Also, she’s 15, not 5. 15 year olds sometimes do stupid things. Let’s wait for more information.

Tell that to Christine Brennan and social media. She's already throwing shades on other athletes. https://www.facebook.com/TheSkatingLesson/photos/a.395978440524130/4619475158174416/

I don't know about Mark, but M&G for example already said they were taking a couple of days off the ice.

 

[taz'smum]

"Banned" drugs can be given if a Therapeutic Use Exemption is applied for and approved. The paperwork is done thru the Russian version of USADA and then forwarded to WADA for approval. Angina is not uncommon in athletes, especially those who have electro-physiological imbalance of ions, and that can be due to many things...eating disorders (quite common), malnutrition, other medications/drug regimens. One would think that the Russian federation would be on top of this...checking all medicines that are given to their athletes, to avoid any appearance of impropriety. One would think that they would have learned from their historical doping issues. Sad that this has happened.

Tiff was doping tested when she was fresh out of hospital after meningitis.


She'd had a shed load of serious drugs in hospital and had to submit a long list of them all in English.
(It cost us a lot of money to get the 10 pages of hospital notes translated into English)

Fortunately, they were all classed as therapeutic usage and she had no problems.

 

[Amantide]

"Banned" drugs can be given if a Therapeutic Use Exemption is applied for and approved. The paperwork is done thru the Russian version of USADA and then forwarded to WADA for approval. Angina is not uncommon in athletes, especially those who have electro-physiological imbalance of ions, and that can be due to many things...eating disorders (quite common), malnutrition, other medications/drug regimens. One would think that the Russian federation would be on top of this...checking all medicines that are given to their athletes, to avoid any appearance of impropriety. One would think that they would have learned from their historical doping issues. Sad that this has happened.

One would think, indeed. Which is why this sound so bonkers to me, if it's true.
Unbelievable.

 

[Judy]

I am in tears. This is absolutely awful!

Hugs .. from a Canadian. It really is.