Russian Figure Skater tests positive for drugs - delays ceremony for team medals

[Kimkeb]

I feel so bad for this girl she is being exploited and abused. Could you imagine performing under the negative attention she is receiving by the North American media and other countries throughout the world. To me this is not different than the sexual abuse that occurs in youth sports she is still being abused and exploited by the Russian Skating federation and her coaches! I just feel incredibly sad for her.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

The biggest loser here is Kamila, whichever way you see it.

I'm almost positive the biggest losers are all the other women who don't get to compete in a clean competition and who have had their Olympic experience ruined by this fiasco. Not to mention the US and Japanese teams who can't get their Olympic moment because they are being held hostage due to someone else's positive doping test. Kamila will be celebrated as a martyr and a hero when she goes back to Russia and CAS is protecting her. They aren't protecting the other women.

Their doping tests in Beijing are all negative. Her doping tests before Nationals and during the Grand Prix were negative. Her doping test at Euros was negative. The doping test she took for National came back with an infinitesimal trace of dope (which is less than any assignable quantity) after getting awol for more than a month.

1. Lance Armstrong NEVER failed a doping test.
2. There is no verifiable source on this "infinitesimal" trace of "dope" junk and no one has said that it is "less than any assignable quantity"
3. If you try to learn even one thing about how athletes dope, you will know that there are strategies to avoid testing positive in competition which involving taking banned substances outside of competition and then stopping when you are going to be tested. Like during the Grand Prix, at Euros, and at the Olympics. Drugs don't stay in your system forever once you have taken them. A clean test today doesn't mean you were clean a week ago.

But I suspect you know this and this is all disingenuous.

 

[screech]

I see what you are saying, but I still think that we should wait to incriminate them and wait for the final verdict. Until then, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt as to whether it was deliberate or not, etc.

The thing is though that other athletes in the past have not been given the benefit of the doubt. An athlete in another sport who tested positive for a substance was banned for, I believe, 8 months, for it only to come out later that she was clean all along. Or Jessica Calalang being suspended for an ingredient in her makeup, as she put it, a substance that no athlete had ever tested positive for.
I'm not saying it's the same, but if evidence of a 15 year old was found at a crime scene, implicating them as the perpetrator, there would be repercussions, even if they weren't penalized as strongly as an adult. And in some situations, WOULD be treated as an adult. IMO this is a situation where Kamila should be treated as of-age athletes in the same situation would be. If you can compete alongside and against those of age, you should fall under the same rules.

 

[love skating]

The excuse reminds me of the American runner who said they ate a bad burrito - remember that one? I believe she lost her appeal.

 

[trouble77]

I'm almost positive the biggest losers are all the other women who don't get to compete in a clean competition and who have had their Olympic experience ruined by this fiasco. Not to mention the US and Japanese teams who can't get their Olympic moment because they are being held hostage due to someone else's positive doping test. Kamila will be celebrated as a martyr and a hero when she goes back to Russia and CAS is protecting her. They aren't protecting the other women.



1. Lance Armstrong NEVER failed a doping test.
2. There is no verifiable source on this "infinitesimal" trace of "dope" junk and no one has said that it is "less than any assignable quantity"
3. If you try to learn even one thing about how athletes dope, you will know that there are strategies to avoid testing positive in competition which involving taking banned substances outside of competition and then stopping when you are going to be tested. Like during the Grand Prix, at Euros, and at the Olympics. Drugs don't stay in your system forever once you have taken them. A clean test today doesn't mean you were clean a week ago.

But I suspect you know this and this is all disingenuous.b

I guess that from now on I'm going to assume that EVERYONE dopes, but some just dopes better or are lucky. Because ultimately, whatever a sportsman is taking now to legit win a game, might be on the banned list 4 years from now.

 

[altai_rose]

Well with this defense, at least It should be reasonably easy to see if Kamila’s grandfather was prescribed this medication and had filled the med in a pharmacy if the family consents to release info.

 

[Primorskaya]

I'm almost positive the biggest losers are all the other women who don't get to compete in a clean competition and who have had their Olympic experience ruined by this fiasco. Not to mention the US and Japanese teams who can't get their Olympic moment because they are being held hostage due to someone else's positive doping test. Kamila will be celebrated as a martyr and a hero when she goes back to Russia and CAS is protecting her. They aren't protecting the other women.

Not to mention all the other competitions before! What of Euros 2022, the Grand Prix, and maybe even before. If Kamila has been given substances I'd be astonished if the rest of her training group hasn't. That calls an awful lot of medals into question.
If I were la Tuk I'd be rather fuming about it too.

 

[Seerek]

The excuse reminds me of the American runner who said they ate a bad burrito - remember that one? I believe she lost her appeal.

Shelby Houlihan from last year in the lead up to Tokyo

Did a Burrito Cost an American Runner Her Olympic Dream? (Published 2021)

Shelby Houlihan, a medal favorite, will miss the U.S. Olympic trials after she tested positive for a banned steroid. She has blamed a food-truck meal.

www.nytimes.com

A former major finalist, Tennis player Sara Errani used the "was found in her mother's batch of cooked tortellini" defense.

Former world No.5 Sara Errani blames tortellini for failed drug test

In an unexpected addition to the list of doping excuses, former world No. 5 Sara Errani has been banned for only two months after convincing an International Tennis Federation tribunal that she ingested a banned substance via her mother's tortellini.

www.smh.com.au

 

[altai_rose]

Shelby Houlihan from last year in the lead up to Tokyo

Did a Burrito Cost an American Runner Her Olympic Dream? (Published 2021)

Shelby Houlihan, a medal favorite, will miss the U.S. Olympic trials after she tested positive for a banned steroid. She has blamed a food-truck meal.

www.nytimes.com

A former major finalist, Tennis player Sara Errani used the "was found in her mother's batch of cooked tortellini" defense.

Former world No.5 Sara Errani blames tortellini for failed drug test

In an unexpected addition to the list of doping excuses, former world No. 5 Sara Errani has been banned for only two months after convincing an International Tennis Federation tribunal that she ingested a banned substance via her mother's tortellini.

www.smh.com.au

Erranis defense worked?

 

[MacMadame]

WADA statement says that RUSADA had not flagged Valieva's sample as a priority for testing to the Swedish lab.

The rationale of CAS is that KV's sample was delayed so she didn't have time to mount a defense. And, I believe, that her name was released when it shouldn't have been.

Who did these things? RUSADA/ROC/Russians.

How convenient.

That is part of the problem right there. If you want to compete with the adults, than you should be subject to the SAME rules as someone 25. Or 35. Otherwise, stay in Juniors until you turn 18.

18 should be the low age cutoff for Senior/Olympic level competition. In all sports.

But Juniors are subject to the WADA code too.

Someone like Karen Chen has very little to lose (second Olympics, skating poorly, won a medal in the team event, no real medal shot unless all of the Russians and probably some others get DQ'ed), while others like Mariah Bell have everything to lose.

I am going to bring this message up when Karen Chen places higher than Mariah.

What, with fake medals?

Why not? Medals are easy enough to have made.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

Erranis defense worked?

"Mamma mia, that's a crunked piece of pasta!"

 

[Bouffantrex]

Well with this defense, at least It should be reasonably easy to see if Kamila’s grandfather was prescribed this medication and had filled the med in a pharmacy if the family consents to release info.

Oh please, they will fake those documents as well.

This decision tells figure skaters it's perfectly okay to dope, as long as you're (a) a minor, (b) Russian, and/or (c) coached by Eteri Tutberidze.

Eteri MUST be brought down, and it's sad the Court of Arbitration for Sport lacked the balls to do the right thing and stand up to ROC's corruption.

 

[trouble77]

The thing is though that other athletes in the past have not been given the benefit of the doubt. An athlete in another sport who tested positive for a substance was banned for, I believe, 8 months, for it only to come out later that she was clean all along. Or Jessica Calalang being suspended for an ingredient in her makeup, as she put it, a substance that no athlete had ever tested positive for.
I'm not saying it's the same, but if evidence of a 15 year old was found at a crime scene, implicating them as the perpetrator, there would be repercussions, even if they weren't penalized as strongly as an adult. And in some situations, WOULD be treated as an adult. IMO this is a situation where Kamila should be treated as of-age athletes in the same situation would be. If you can compete alongside and against those of age, you should fall under the same rules.

My understanding is that since they didn't find her positive at the Games, and since she has already competed in one game, they will allow her to continue because they can't start an actual investigation right now. The investigation and the testing of Sample B will be in 7-10 days after her LP.

 

[overedge]

Not having a medal/panda/flower event for the winners, if Valieva is among them, is hypocritical. If the event is that tainted, then cancel it.

 

[reckless]

its irrelevant and should not have even been part of the discussion - banned substance doesn't matter how it got there - she failed the doping test.

Actually, though it's ridiculous, it's not irrelevant. Under WADA rules, when an athlete tests positive, the only way to get a lesser suspension or no suspension at all is to prove the athlete has no significant fault. That requires the athlete not only to prove he or she took the substance without knowing but also how the substance got into the sample. The burden is on the athlete to come forward with that evidence.

 

[overedge]

Actually, though it's ridiculous, it's not irrelevant. Under WADA rules, when an athlete tests positive, the only way to get a lesser suspension or no suspension at all is to prove the athlete has no significant fault. That requires the athlete not only to prove he or she took the substance without knowing but also how the substance got into the sample. The burden is on the athlete to come forward with that evidence.

She just did! She drank from the same glass of water as her grandpa

 

[Seerek]

Erranis defense worked?

Not in terms of avoiding any penalty altogether. In Sara's case, the CAS actually increased her initial suspension period from 2 to 10 months.

https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Media_Release_5301_5302_Decision.pdf

 

[reckless]

The excuse reminds me of the American runner who said they ate a bad burrito - remember that one? I believe she lost her appeal.

The burrito excuse actually was more credible and had some scientific basis. She still lost at CAS. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports...o-led-positive-test-banned-substance-n1270905

 

[flyingsit]

I see what you are saying, but I still think that we should wait to incriminate them and wait for the final verdict. Until then, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt as to whether it was deliberate or not, etc.

It DOESN'T MATTER. It's a banned substance and the rules say that she should be suspended until/unless she can prove that she did not have the drug in her system. Period.

 

[Judy]

What a messy situation.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I guess that from now on I'm going to assume that EVERYONE dopes, but some just dopes better or are lucky. Because ultimately, whatever a sportsman is taking now to legit win a game, might be on the banned list 4 years from now.

Objection, strawman argument. Not "all sportsmen" have recently tested positive for a banned substance

Also, there are no drugs that you take to help you "legit" win a game. So yes, if a drug actually helps you win a game, it will be banned because you aren't supposed to win games with drugs.

 

[SkateG8]

Ya I've always been told... don't drink out of your grandparents glass you could fail a drug test.

 

[trouble77]

It DOESN'T MATTER. It's a banned substance and the rules say that she should be suspended until/unless she can prove that she did not have the drug in her system. Period.

I understand your POV but CAS disagree with you.

 

[trouble77]

Objection, strawman argument. Not "all sportsmen" have recently tested positive for a banned substance

Also, there are no drugs that you take to help you "legit" win a game. So yes, if a drug actually helps you win a game, it will be banned because you aren't supposed to win games with drugs.

they will in time like Armstrong who NEVER failed a test.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

Ya I've always been told... don't drink out of your grandparents glass you could fail a drug test.

Are you an athlete covered by WADA or your country's version of that organization? If so, you certainly would have been advised to be astonishingly careful in whatever you consume from whatever source, would you not?

 

[Theatregirl1122]

they will in time like Armstrong who NEVER failed a test.

So to be clear... your believe is that Lance Armstrong... didn't dope?

 

[Bouffantrex]

Not having a medal/panda/flower event for the winners, if Valieva is among them, is hypocritical. If the event is that tainted, then cancel it.

Absolutely. Just cancel the event if we have to make these stipulations.

Not to be dramatic, but if figure skaters were able to organize at 2002 World Championships in protest of Chait/Sakhnovski's bronze medal, then I don't see why they couldn't do something similar here, regarding clean sport.

I would also like to see more pressure from other powerful federations, like Canada, USA, Japan, Italy.

 

[overedge]

I understand your POV but the CAS disagree with you.

It's not a POV. It's a fact that TMZ is a banned substance.

 

[SkateG8]

Are you an athlete covered by WADA or your country's version of that organization? If so, you certainly would have been advised to be astonishingly careful in whatever you consume from whatever source, would you not?

I not questioning being careful. I'm just shocked by the excuse.

 

[chantilly]

I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole thing/ schedule of events of this situation was completely orchestrated by the Russian team behind Valieva.

I think they read the rules in particular regarding her age and doping, and how a positive test would be dealt with.

They doped her with TMZ up and until the right amount of time that it would not be in her system come Olympics.

Deliberately delayed, waylaid the sample because they knew about the rights and rules of the athletes opportunity to defend themselves with ample time.

Etc etc.

This I feel was completely orchestrated and calculated to garner this exact result.

They know once the Olympics are done few people will care despite skating fans and skaters and their teams about the final decisions.

Even if they’re medals are stripped, most people will have remembered the Russians “won” or they won’t care or have moved on.

Yup I’m done with skating at the Olympics