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

[rfisher]

RUSADA probably believed there would be absolutely no issue with their star, which is why it never bothered to expedite the sample.

I suspect that is true. They had no reason to believe the sample would be positive based on prior samples and history. Which is why the whole event is just mind boggling.

 

[bladesofgorey]

They didn't think it would be positive because they hadn't gotten a positive before. That's different than thinking it wouldn't be positive because they weren't doping the athletes, yknow?

 

[caseyedwards]

That's what happens.

What really disgusts me is Russian fans posting everywhere that figure skating sucks without them, even calling Kaori Sakamoto fat. They have no respect.

I don’t care for the latter but the the former is a fact

 

[coppertop1]

Because you can't separate one leg from the race or a player's performance in a sport where the team plays concurrently, and where you can't surgically remove one player's impact on team interaction. Same with synchro events.

You can separate out individual performances that are added together cumulatively to create a whole, leaving the rest intact. An open question would be if there were more contestants than the number of scores counted, if the scores of the next highest non-counting placement would replace the removed scores, and I'm sure there are other questions for other cumulatively scored team events. (Team equestrian?)

As I said before, Canada was disqualified from as show jumping ub 2019 Pan American Games when one of our riders unknowingly drank coca teal ko

Since I see comments comparing our team event to the gymnastics team finals, I looked up the 2000 women's team final official standings to see how China is ranked. Some info: a Chinese gymnast was found guilty of age falsification and all of her results at the Sydney games were cancelled. Anyway, the entire Chinese team was disqualified. No team score and not even a 6th place finish on record. If we follow this example, then ROC would also be DSQ, not 3rd or 4th or even 10th. Also, for everyone using Kamila's age as an excuse that the doping isn't her fault and shouldn't be punished, I can also argue that Dong Fangxiao's fake age and passport wasn't her fault or her responsibility.

Interesting parallel there since both involve a minor who likely doesn't have much say but rules are rules

I don’t care for the latter but the the former is a fact

And since what do you care about facts?

 

[Wyliefan]

I've never bought into the whole "Tutberidze was the one who doped her" crowd. She's not stupid and she'd know very well they'd get caught given as many events as her skaters were in and as many times they'd all been tested. For years. Valieva had been tested since she was a novice. Over and over and over and over. Maybe they could get by internally in Russia, but those skaters were dominant internationally and tested internationally multiple times. There is no emperical evidence for wide spread doping among the Russian figure skaters. A lot of speculation and perhaps wishful thinking, but no supporting data. I don't think the true story will ever be known.

And Lance Armstrong would never dope because he'd know very well he'd get caught given as many times as he'd been tested. And the East German government would never dope their swimmers because they'd know very well they'd get caught given as many times as they'd been tested. And, and, and ...

Don't ever underestimate just how complacent and arrogant an egomaniac, or an institution or a government full of egomaniacs, can get.

 

[coppertop1]

And Lance Armstrong would never dope because he'd know very well he'd get caught given as many times as he'd been tested. And the East German government would never dope their swimmers because they'd know very well they'd get caught given as many times as they'd been tested. And, and, and ...

Don't ever underestimate just how complacent and arrogant an egomaniac, or an institution or a government full of egomaniacs, can get.

The amount of straight up denial or maybe just gaslighting by Russian fans is ridiculous. If anyone believe Russia's state-sponsored doping doesn't involve figure skating, and that Eteri wasn't involved, I have a Russian doctor to recommend for you

 

[Dobre]

It doesn't matter.

She skated. She tested positive.

Whether or not they knew she would test positive is not the same question as whether or not they knew she had been using an illegal substance. They most likely knew. They just didn't know she would get caught.

----

I don't remember all the details of the first time I had to investigate a case of cheating, but I remember the counselor ultimately advising me to just be clear that the party who paid the consequences did so because she got caught. Much as that may feel unfair to someone who knows others were also guilty, it is the most defensible scenario.

 

[caseyedwards]

As I said before, Canada was disqualified from as show jumping ub 2019 Pan American Games when one of our riders unknowingly drank coca teal ko

Interesting parallel there since both involve a minor who likely doesn't have much say but rules are rules


And since what do you care about facts?

Always

 

[Karen-W]

I agree or Kamila would have developed a sudden unfortunate illness and skipped both events. No way would Tutberidze have risked what happened, especially since she had Anna and Sasha. Nor, would the fed when they had Liza in reserve. I have never understood the timing. They had an extremely strong team of women. I totally understood them only picking Valieva for the team event because they had only two substitutions and they had to be dance and men, ergo only one woman. I'd have gone with Valieva as well under those assumptions. But, if they'd had the slightest hint there'd be an issue, they would not have put her in the position to fail. There was zero need to do so.

Except that isn't what they did. They didn't make ANY substitutions in any disciplines. They went with the reigning European Champions in all four disciplines. They snubbed the reigning WC and European silver medalist in leaving Shcherbakova out of the team event. They also snubbed the reigning World and European bronze medalists in pairs (Boikova/Kozlovskii). It was clear, heading into the Olympics, that the only discipline that would NOT be under consideration for substitutions was men because, well, men are gonna men and Kondratiuk was on a hot streak having won both RusNats and Euros in the previous 6 weeks.

Honestly, I'd have put Shcherbakova and Trusova in the TE and kept Valieva for the women's event, since she was the odds on favorite for gold in that event, and using Anna & Sasha in the TE would have guaranteed them both an Olympic gold medal, which I thought they both probably had earned over the past quad. I can see the rationale in using only one pairs and dance team, though I could have made a solid argument for using a second pairs team.

 

[greenapple]

What really disgusts me is Russian fans posting everywhere that figure skating sucks without them, even calling Kaori Sakamoto fat. They have no respect.

They have to stay relevant somehow. The fact is figure skating does not suck without them - it has been a great season so far without them - and only the sycophants are crying in their beer. Apparently demeaning other skaters makes them feel better but it does not help the cause. It just makes the rest of us dislike them even more - if that is even possible at this point.

Every time I see Gubanova I can't help but think how lucky she was that she was sidelined by the Russians, which prompted her to switch countries. I hope they all enjoy watching her competing internationally while the rest of her former rivals bang their heads against each other at faux domestic competitions.

 

[coppertop1]

They have to stay relevant somehow. The fact is figure skating does not suck without them - it has been a great season so far without them - and only the sycophants are crying in their beer. Apparently demeaning other skaters makes them feel better but it does not help the cause. It just makes the rest of us dislike them even more - if that is even possible at this point.

Yep. It smacks of insecurity. Watching the quality of women has been a joy. Russia can stay mad.

Every time I see Gubanova I can't help but think how lucky she was that she was sidelined by the Russians, which prompted her to switch countries. I hope they all enjoy watching her competing internationally while the rest of her former rivals bang their heads against each other at faux domestic competitions.

I liked Gubanova and was very happy that she got to go to the Olympics and is having a great career now. Russia did her a favour by burying her. Their loss is our gain. Same with Kurakova.

 

[On My Own]

I have no horse in the race being from a non skating country so I may be off base but I think the majority just wants fair play and not necessarily a medal for their country.

Reading the past few pages of this thread doesn't fill me with confidence about this.

 

[Hedwig]

Reading the past few pages of this thread doesn't fill me with confidence about this.

I mean that in the gentlest way possible: Maybe this has more to do with you and how you see world with your preconceptions than about what you read.

 

[olympic]

I wish I had a link but FS gossips on Twitter is posting a nauseating interview w/Sasha Zhulin, wherein he complains how victimized Kamila Valieva is, how the West is out to get RUS, and how no post-pubescent US lady can land a 3-3. On that last bit, he's getting dragged like you wouldn't believe. The guy sounds like a real d-bag like his pupil, NK

 

[On My Own]

I wish I had a link but FS gossips on Twitter is posting a nauseating interview w/Sasha Zhulin, wherein he complains how victimized Kamila Valieva is, how the West is out to get RUS, and how no post-pubescent US lady can land a 3-3. On that last bit, he's getting dragged like you wouldn't believe. The guy sounds like a real d-bag like his pupil, NK

https://twitter.com/x/status/1617151941901012992

 

[airgelaal]

The main difference, though, between the YOG and the OWG is that the team event was a mixed nations event - the teams were comprised of athletes from different nations.

Yes, but the format is the same.
ISU created a precedent when they disqualified a personal result, but left the result in the team.

 

[coppertop1]

Zhulin has no redeeming qualities. None. It is funny how he keeps telling on himself and Russia, though. Fat shaming is definitely prevalent in Russia. My first thought about what Zhulin was "Did you forget about you own skater, Liza Tuktamysheva, who has textbook jumps?". Twitter rose to the store in occasion by naming was women and posting clips of women skaters doing 3-3s.

 

[BittyBug]

I wish I had a link but FS gossips on Twitter is posting a nauseating interview w/Sasha Zhulin, wherein he complains how victimized Kamila Valieva is, how the West is out to get RUS, and how no post-pubescent US lady can land a 3-3. On that last bit, he's getting dragged like you wouldn't believe. The guy sounds like a real d-bag like his pupil, NK

Zhulin has never been a model human, going back to his competitive days. He's best ignored.

 

[Vagabond]

Zhulin sounds like he realizes that he may never again coach Russian skaters in international competition and there's nothing he can do about it.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Zhulin just means that there are no US Women that he'd passively allow to seduce him, so he could leave his wife and family for an even younger model with whom to procreate. Like Yagudin, who had to leave Canada because the women there didn't make the effort, while the women in Russia were so beautiful.

 

[Primorskaya]

"Hi, my name is Alexander Zhulin and I'm desperately, desperately trying to stay relevant in a world that has pretty much already forgotten I exist, by pressing every hot shitstorm-starting button I can find."

 

[Primorskaya]

The whole Valieva delayed sample thing really feels like karma. A small glitch along the line, an incorrectly labelled sample, starting a long chain reaction that culminated in a titanic explosion, on the world's biggest stage, exposing the doping practises that never went away and ensuring they couldn't be swept away, again. Yep, karma is a souka

 

[Cachoo]

"Hi, my name is Alexander Zhulin and I'm desperately, desperately trying to stay relevant in a world that has pretty much already forgotten I exist, by pressing every hot shitstorm-starting button I can find."

He must have lots and lots of time to troll. He's not very good at it.

 

[greenapple]

And Zhulin is joined by the always narrow minded Slutskaya... "I want to live in a world where there are men and women, but there is no "it"

 

[Trillian]

Zhulin has never been a model human, going back to his competitive days. He's best ignored.

No, it would be better if he faced appropriate consequences for his behavior for once in his miserable life. I’m not sure if he’s coaching anyone at this point who isn’t banned internationally, but the ISU has a code of ethics and there’s no reason they need to issue him coaching credentials.

Being ignored is how he got this far. He should be mocked relentlessly every time he opens his mouth in public.

 

[VGThuy]

And Zhulin is joined by the always narrow minded Slutskaya... "I want to live in a world where there are men and women, but there is no "it"

Someone should just change the subject to "hamburgers".

 

[On My Own]

"I want to live in a world where there are men and women, but there is no Irina Slutskaya, TAT, Assholin, Eatery, Egg Master, Russian Peter Pettigrew, "Sex Bomb", Mr Is He or Is He Not Closeted, and funyuns" sounds about right to me.

Russian women skaters unfortunately already live without eateries, even if they do live with Eatery and Egg Master.

 

[Evgeniafan]

"I want to live in a world where there are men and women, but there is no Irina Slutskaya, TAT, Assholin, Eatery, Egg Master, Russian Peter Pettigrew, "Sex Bomb", Mr Is He or Is He Not Closeted, and funyuns" sounds about right to me.

Russian women skaters unfortunately already live without eateries, even if they do live with Eatery and Egg Master.

Who is egg master?

 

[On My Own]

Who is egg master?

丹尼 (Dān ní) Danny -> 蛋(Dàn=egg)大师(master)

Personally find it funnier than ramen sister.

 

[olympic]

Zhulin has no redeeming qualities. None. It is funny how he keeps telling on himself and Russia, though. Fat shaming is definitely prevalent in Russia. My first thought about what Zhulin was "Did you forget about you own skater, Liza Tuktamysheva, who has textbook jumps?". Twitter rose to the store in occasion by naming was women and posting clips of women skaters doing 3-3s.

3-3 with better technique by the way