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

[ChelleC]

Such a sad situation not to be able to afford more glasses. I think everyone should buy a set of glasses and send them to her so this never happens again.

Anyone know of a Russian version of Amazon and the address for Sambo 70?

 

[overedge]

Some teen athletes get sport induced hypoxia right around this time of intense growth. may be she needed support including some medications

Then she could have applied for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). But that's not what happened, is it?

 

[Nadya]

I have no doubt they delayed the sample. In addition to the sample's mysterious late arrival at the lab, RUSADA failed to flag the sample as one needing expedited results before the Olympics (per their obligation, according to WADA) and they failed to follow up with the lab when they did not receive timely results (also per their obligation, according to WADA).

This makes no sense whatsoever. It was not at all to Russia's benefit to have the positive test news come up during the Olympics. If they had the results back in January, say, they would have suspended her for thirty days, sent someone else to Euros citing any reason under the son, had the suspension expire before the Olympics, and no one would have known, in all likelihood, due to the protected person status. Like why would they want what's happening now when they could have dealt with it earlier and quietly?

 

[barbarafan]

This makes no sense whatsoever. It was not at all to Russia's benefit to have the positive test news come up during the Olympics. If they had the results back in January, say, they would have suspended her for thirty days, sent someone else to Euros citing any reason under the son, had the suspension expire before the Olympics, and no one would have known, in all likelihood, due to the protected person status. Like why would they want what's happening now when they could have dealt with it earlier and quietly?

Unless it is a distraction from looking at Russia's Ukraine invasion.

 

[Nadya]

Unless it is a distraction from looking at Russia's Ukraine invasion.

Sure - why not the starving children in Yemen? Or any number of other things?

 

[Nadya]

Unless it is a distraction from looking at Russia's Ukraine invasion.

Wait - you're saying that after Kamila peed in a jar on December 25th, RUSADA said to themselves - you know what, let's sit on that jar for a bit. We might invade Ukraine and we'll need a distraction. Kamila's pee is just what we need in this particular situation.

 

[Willin]

This makes no sense whatsoever. It was not at all to Russia's benefit to have the positive test news come up during the Olympics. If they had the results back in January, say, they would have suspended her for thirty days, sent someone else to Euros citing any reason under the son, had the suspension expire before the Olympics, and no one would have known, in all likelihood, due to the protected person status. Like why would they want what's happening now when they could have dealt with it earlier and quietly?

No, it provided an advantage. If this was revealed earlier she would've had a much greater chance of not being able to compete. One of the main reasons she was allowed to compete (according to CAS) was that the result was too recent to give her a chance to mount a proper defense. If this was announced in early January that would've been more than enough time for her to mount a defense and still likely be suspended because the process wouldn't have been as rushed.

It's also a lot harder to get someone removed when they're already at the competition and practicing than one month prior with lots of warning.

Unless it is a distraction from looking at Russia's Ukraine invasion.

Probably a happy little accident/

 

[Cachoo]

Gawd I miss Tara and Michelle.

 

[iceskater10]

She tested negative after her positive test

Or they figured out how to hide it!!

 

[Karen-W]

Gawd I miss Tara and Michelle.

Whoa whoa whoa, now... let's not go that far. No one wants to relive the Tara/Michelle fan wars...

 

[jenny12]

Gawd I miss Tara and Michelle.

Simpler times indeed.

 

[Seerek]

Also missed the times when TMZ was to me just a gossip site

 

[Muffin]

This makes no sense whatsoever. It was not at all to Russia's benefit to have the positive test news come up during the Olympics. If they had the results back in January, say, they would have suspended her for thirty days, sent someone else to Euros citing any reason under the son, had the suspension expire before the Olympics, and no one would have known, in all likelihood, due to the protected person status. Like why would they want what's happening now when they could have dealt with it earlier and quietly?

I have no idea why you would think a doping suspension would expire in 30 days. The suspension for a drug of this type is going to be 1-2 years.

The only reason Valieva is skating right now is because her results came back in the middle of the competition, and CAS ruled it wasn't fair that she had no time to do anything about it. So Russia "slow walking" the test, as Christine Brennan put it, worked out perfectly and they achieved the goal of keeping Valieva competing at the Olympics.

All Valieva would have been able to do if the results had come back in January would have been get her B sample tested. If her B sample had come back positive too (which they almost always do) she would have gotten a full suspension. No Olympics. Fighting her case with phony excuses about water glasses would take in the neighborhood of 9 months - 1 year, and she would remain suspended during that time.

 

[liv]

When I was 15 I would never have taken a sip out of my grandpa's glass.. unless it was something alcoholic... nah, not even then. When I was 5, maybe...

 

[Mayra]

I have no idea why you would think a doping suspension would expire in 30 days. The suspension for a drug of this type is going to be 1-2 years.

The only reason Valieva is skating right now is because her results came back in the middle of the competition, and CAS ruled it wasn't fair that she had no time to do anything about it. So Russia "slow walking" the test, as Christine Brennan put it, worked out perfectly and they achieved the goal of keeping Valieva competing at the Olympics.

All Valieva would have been able to do if the results had come back in January would have been get her B sample tested. If her B sample had come back positive too (which they almost always do) she would have gotten a full suspension. No Olympics. Fighting her case with phony excuses about water glasses would take in the neighborhood of 9 months - 1 year, and she would remain suspended during that time.

Because she is a protected person, the minimum she could theoretically get is a reprimand. IE no suspension at all if RUSADA so chooses. At most I see her getting 30 days, nulling her national and European title and keeping the Olympic Gold x 2.

 

[skatingguy]

This subject is being discussed in several threads so I'm not sure what info got posted where, and when. At this point we don't have any reason to believe the sample was intentionally delayed, rather the delay in testing is apparently because the sample wasn't labelled properly by RUSADA. That's from the WADA statement following the CAS ruling.

 

[Vagabond]

Gawd I miss Tara and Michelle.

At least we had Kévin Aymoz scream in the Kiss and Cry.

#compensations

 

[Rafter]

So Rusada didn’t mark Valieva’s sample as “urgent” for the Swedish lab hence the delay in testing. I’d be curious to know if Sherbakova and Trusova’s samples were marked as urgent or not by Rusada. No doubt Eteri has Rusada in her back pocket.

Side note re: L-Cartinine (and CoQ10), I believe these supplements are frequently suggested by fertility doctors to women who are having trouble getting pregnant.

 

[becca]

Here's CNN article from 2016:

When athletes can take drugs. What are Therapeutic Use Exemptions? | CNN

It's the latest acronym to take the world of sport by storm -- but what is a TUE?

www.cnn.com

The mere suspicion can cause lack of trust between countries.

So why do Russians have lack of trust? In some sports the testing rules have been changed suddenly in the offseason to target medication used by their athletes (Sharapova). Other times, western athletes get TUEs exemptions, some of them are suspicious, some of them maybe cultural difference. This cause the Russians to have contempt for the doping and testing process. They don't trust it, they think it's a farce, so they treat it like a farce. Whoever control the testing control the sport.

Anyone can say the TUEs exemptions are all legit and nobody cheat the system that way, but one person might believe that and another person might think it sounds the same as dopers always claim they never failed a drug test.

Even when 35 and 40 year old athletes continue to dominate their professional sports. Nope, definitely no corruption of testing controls going on there.

I don't think Olympics is the right place to fight this issue. It's not fair to the other athletes. I don't even know if exemptions are a problem in skating specifically, they may not be. But I think it's definitely a problem in sports in general, and then all you need is for the Russians to feel they are being treated unfairly, and they are going to take what they feel like are appropriate reactions. I wish they didn't do it at the Olympics, fight in the offseason and then boycott if you are still not happy, but here we are.

They are also not innocent. They got away with cheating in 2014 and since they got away with it, then they push too far and now they are the guilty one. It's all so tiring. I'm sad for the other athletes, Kamila should not skate, but in the offseason, I hope everyone can reflect on what they can do differently to restore trust and work towards a more honest playing field, not just blame the bogeyman.

I believe Shawn Johnson said Nassar in her comeback gave her ADD medication said would help her focus in competition

No, it provided an advantage. If this was revealed earlier she would've had a much greater chance of not being able to compete. One of the main reasons she was allowed to compete (according to CAS) was that the result was too recent to give her a chance to mount a proper defense. If this was announced in early January that would've been more than enough time for her to mount a defense and still likely be suspended because the process wouldn't have been as rushed.

It's also a lot harder to get someone removed when they're already at the competition and practicing than one month prior with lots of warning.


Probably a happy little accident/

I disagree. The Russians didn’t need Kamila to win team gold. They I am sure wish they knew prior to the team event so they could put up let’s say Anna in the team

 

[Lara111]

I believe Shawn Johnson said Nassar in her comeback gave her ADD medication said would help her focus in competition

I disagree. The Russians didn’t need Kamila to win team gold. They I am sure wish they knew prior to the team event so they could put up let’s say Anna in the team

I feel like 90 of American kids eat ADD meds to improve performance at various tests. This is the culture.

 

[skatingguy]

I feel like 90 of American kids eat ADD meds to improve performance at various tests. This is the culture.

Not sure how prevalent that ever really was, but they sure liked to include it in a lot of teenage dramas. You'd think if it really was that high that test scores would be better in American schools.

 

[VGThuy]

Gawd I miss Tara and Michelle.

Oh gosh, that fan war was brutal and relentless and kept going way past Tara’s retirement from eligible skating.

 

[Xela M]

Can anyone explain to me in layman's terms why Trusova is above Wakaba? And wasn't Valieva with that 3x attempt a tad over-scored?

(I'm not an expert so maybe missing some finer details )

 

[MacMadame]

The article says:

It's wrong.

Also, to be clear, I was not talking about hypoxen but about CoQ-10 which some doctors on here said hypoxen was similar to.

I feel like 90 of American kids eat ADD meds to improve performance at various tests. This is the culture.

@whataboutism

 

[Muffin]

IE no suspension at all if RUSADA so chooses.

RUSADA does not get to do whatever they want. The ISU and IOC's authority both supersede it, and the case they brought to CAS (along with WADA) to uphold Valieva's suspension at the Olympics would have been bulletproof had it not been for the "untimely reporting" of the results, as cited by CAS in their decision. None of those entities support slap-on-the-wrist punishments for doping violations, even by minors.

 

[Muffin]

At most I see her getting 30 days, nulling her national and European title and keeping the Olympic Gold x 2.

On what planet is this going to happen?

 

[irenemulindwairen]

If Eteri returns to Russia to a hero's welcome, and continues to abuse children - that will be even a bigger tragedy than all this.

The sight of this coach really makes me sick. I am so angry what a betrayal.

 

[escaflowne9282]

On what planet is this going to happen?

This one quite possibly

 

[Cachoo]

Oh gosh, that fan war was brutal and relentless and kept going way past Tara’s retirement from eligible skating.

I am being mostly sarcastic.

Oh gosh, that fan war was brutal and relentless and kept going way past Tara’s retirement from eligible skating.

 

[Twilight1]

I much prefer the Tara vs Michelle saga. I had no horse in that race.

Joanne Rochette and Kaetlyn Osmond did not even overcome me other than National support or basic empathy for Joannie's mom.

No I get the Tonya vs Nancy saga with Oksana Baiul and my current favorite skater doping.

Back to ice dance I go! Now that was simpler times.

B&K or not to B&K, V&M is the question...