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

[airgelaal]

Very strange that Dudakov is there with them given that the team now trains in Germany.

I think he was with Egadze. Pairs were like a bonus

 

[coppertop1]

Just strip Russia of the victory in the Team Event and giving USA, Japan and Canada their medals.

 

[greenapple]

I think he was with Egadze. Pairs were like a bonus

He was - so the pairs team got him by default probably.

 

[allezfred]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1589965727314108422

 

[VGThuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1589965727314108422

I hope the right decision is made and not the “right” decision.

 

[On My Own]

I hope the right decision is made and not the “right” decision.

I donut have such hope

 

[Karen-W]

I donut have such hope

I actually do. CAS won't look kindly upon RUSADA not following the WADA rules to get the investigation, etc completed within 6 months of the violation being reported. They had until August 8th and we are now 3 months past that. It's been 9 months. RUSADA is going to lose their gold medal because of their ****ing around on the report and dragging their feet with the disciplinary hearing.

 

[Vagabond]

I donut have such hope

 

[On My Own]

I actually do. CAS won't look kindly upon RUSADA not following the WADA rules to get the investigation, etc completed within 6 months of the violation being reported. They had until August 8th and we are now 3 months past that. It's been 9 months. RUSADA is going to lose their gold medal because of their ****ing around on the report and dragging their feet with the disciplinary hearing.

IDK, honestly. We keep seeing Russia doing some shit over and over. I do hope they stay banned, at least, and we seem to have that going for us.

I hope someone gives it to the Russian girls with ice cream...

 

[VICK B.]

I find the little Armenian girl from last years Russian Nationals to be very suspicious .. Adeliia Petrosian about 14 years with monster quads ... I was watching it live and I thought to myself she is on steroids or something... I myself am Armenian and asking myself it was too suspicious. .. and she part of Eteri's team...

​

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I donut have such hope

I wouldn’t mind a donut

 

[clairecloutier]

NYT article on the referral to CAS:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2022/11/08/kamila-valievas-case-heads-court-with-wada-frustrated-with-russia/

The uncertainty of who will get the team event gold medals has angered the United States skaters who finished second, several of whom complained directly to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach about the IOC’s decision to not hold a ceremony in Beijing. Japan, which finished third, and Canada, which finished fourth, face similar uncertainty.

 

[Ananas Astra]

I find the little Armenian girl from last years Russian Nationals to be very suspicious .. Adeliia Petrosian about 14 years with monster quads ... I was watching it live and I thought to myself she is on steroids or something... I myself am Armenian and asking myself it was too suspicious. .. and she part of Eteri's team...

​

All of Eteri's kids are doing quads. Russians, Armenians, Georgians. It might have to do with her "system". Why single out the "little Armenian girl" as the "very suspicious" one?

 

[rfisher]

All of Eteri's kids are doing quads. Russians, Armenians, Georgians. It might have to do with her "system". Why single out the "little Armenian girl" as the "very suspicious" one?

As are Plushenko's skaters. And the Japanese juniors.

 

[Karen-W]

As are Plushenko's skaters. And the Japanese juniors.

Exactly how many Japanese juniors are doing quads? I think one or two on the JGP (Shimada & ??), and there's one Japanese woman on the GP (Sumiyoshi) who has attempted a quad so far, IIRC.

 

[VICK B.]

All of Eteri's kids are doing quads. Russians, Armenians, Georgians. It might have to do with her "system". Why single out the "little Armenian girl" as the "very suspicious" one?

So she scored 160.39 in free skate.. total 239.31 at age 14.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

NYT article on the referral to CAS:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2022/11/08/kamila-valievas-case-heads-court-with-wada-frustrated-with-russia/

Here is The NY Times article. You should be able to read this without a paywall:

With Russia Stalling, Agency Appeals Valieva Case to Sports’ Highest Court

The move by the World Anti-Doping Agency to supersede Russian officials comes amid delays and distrust in how the figure skater’s case is being handled.

www.nytimes.com

 

[overedge]

So she scored 160.39 in free skate.. total 239.31 at age 14.

And.....? She gets points for what she did in the program, and she did high-scoring elements. She's not being judged on her age.

Also, if she's on any kind of drugs, it's probably not steroids. Steroids bulk up muscle and add weight, which wouldn't help a skater much.

 

[MacMadame]

All of Eteri's kids are doing quads.

When I read that she had monster quads and maybe she's on steroids, I thought @VICK B. meant big quad muscles.

Anyway, the smaller you are, the easier is it to get up in the air, stay there and rotate quickly. So that part isn't suspicious to me. I mean Stephen Gogolev had quads when was that age and he's from Canada. So did USFS' own Alysa Liu.

 

[barbk]

I wouldn’t mind a donut

Heh. I learned last week that the KFC that close a couple of months ago is being turned into a Voodoo Donuts. I really enjoyed the one I had from them when I was out in Portland for a competition. Here's hoping the one here opens up in the next few months and is just as good. (Well, maybe not TOO good, as it needs to stay a once-in-a-while treat.)

 

[Firedancer]

NY Times article on the doctor that had been working with Eteri’s skaters:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/sports/olympics/kamila-valieva-drug-test-doctor.html

 

[MacMadame]

NY Times article on the doctor that had been working with Eteri’s skaters:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/sports/olympics/kamila-valieva-drug-test-doctor.html

Some excerpts from those who couldn't get behind the paywall:

Kamila Valieva’s Doctor Has Long Worked in the Shadows of Sport​

Much of the attention has focused on Valieva’s hard-charging coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who rebuked Valieva on live television after the teenager’s faltering performance in the individual event in Beijing and has denied any role in doping.

But less well known and sure to be a focus of investigators is the team’s doctor, Filipp Shvetsky, who has a history with performance-enhancing drugs.

He has told Russian news media that he parted ways with Tutberidze after Beijing and says he is just as curious as everyone else about how a banned drug ended up Valieva’s system, a point of special concern because, at age 16, she is a minor.

“For an athlete to be well-prepared, he must be loved, and that’s it,” he wrote.

This summer, Dr. Shvetsky told the Russian weekly newspaper Literaturnaya Gazeta that any doctor, coach or athlete who uses banned drugs when a drug test is a certainty is “mentally deranged.”

Dr. Shvetsky continued, “The only ‘doping’ I gave Kamila was a gift of a copy of Picasso’s painting ‘Girl on a Ball.’ It was painted by an artist friend of mine. I officially recognize this ‘doping.’ I hope it helped her.”

Dr. Shvetsky worked closely with Tutberidze’s skaters for years and remains a doctor with the Russian national team. He long had been a regular presence alongside his young skaters at competitions and in practice rinks, and having a doctor so publicly involved raised eyebrows in the sport.

Dr. Shvetsky has submitted to hours of interviews with Russian drug authorities, he said in his interview with Literaturnaya Gazeta. He said he had provided “a set of circumstantial facts that may determine the motive and possible malicious intent.”

Motive in the case is the most important thing, he said in an email this week, and he doesn’t believe that Valieva had a motive to use the heart drug.

Throughout Dr. Shvetsky’s career, he has stayed one step ahead of antidoping officials, creating ways to improve his athletes’ performance that would soon be illegal, or in one case, already was.

In the years before he joined the skating program, he provided banned intravenous injections to Russian rowers and was given a two-year doping suspension after first denying that he had anything to do with the procedure.

In 2010, he began working with the Russian figure skating team and sought ways to identify and address biological markers of fatigue. He traveled with athletes to competitions to help them with performance and pain management, and the team’s results under his watch have been astonishing.

Dr. Shvetsky, who works at a veterans’ hospital in Russia, is far from a typical sports doctor: His subspecialty in anesthesia is reanimatology, the science aimed at reviving people who are clinically dead, meaning that their blood has stopped circulating and they have stopped breathing. By contrast, the doctor who travels with the United States figure skating team is Ellen Geminiani, who specializes in sports medicine and orthopedics.

Dr. Shvetsky’s main contributions to reanimatology have been in the realm of fringe “fountain of youth” medical technologies developed in the former Soviet Union. His Ph.D. dissertation and subsequent research about intravenous laser blood irradiation described a method that helped surgical patients experiencing oxidative stress and improved healing.

The article goes on to note that this method was subsequently banned by WADA.

Since Dr. Shvetsky began working with figure skaters training under Tutberidze, Russian skaters, including Valieva, have dominated international competitions. Tutberidze’s female skaters have won gold in the last three Olympic Games.

Is that true? He started working with them in 2010 which was 12 years ago. Did Tutberidze's Junoir skaters start tearing up the Jr circuit soon after?

Tutberidze and Dr. Shvetsky share the notion that young, prepubescent girls can deliver stronger performances than boys and men. What makes the girls such good jumpers is their strength-to-weight ratio and ability to rotate their bodies quickly and efficiently in the air — before puberty sets in and changes their body composition.

“It seems to me girls are more brave than men,” Dr. Shvetsky said. He said in the interview that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sent him a note of gratitude for preparing Russian athletes for the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

At the 2021 Rostelecom Cup, in the run-up to the Beijing Games, Valieva seemed to validate Dr. Shvetsky’s belief in the strength of girls, outscoring the men’s champion.

I don't remember a lot of comments about this. Is that because outscoring the Mens champion has a reasonable explanation or did I just miss the chatter?

Skaters on Russian national teams receive pill boxes containing medications tweaked as necessary for individual needs “in accordance with the WADA code,” according to a training manual written by a top government sports scientist.

We've heard about this before. Didn't realize it was part of an official training manual though.

There was then some stuff about "what could her motive be?!" and implications that she was sabotaged so I guess that's the defense they are going with.

When asked if he expected to receive a punishment in the case, Dr. Shvetsky answered in an email, “The most important question is why me?”

To sum up his defense: I'm innocent! Only a madman would dope an athlete! Hand-waving to get us to ignore that he has been caught doing it before and, at first, denied he had done it just as he is denying it now.

Also, it might not be clear from the excerpts, but when you read the entire thing, you see him doing a lot deflecting and not actually answering some of the questions asked of him.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

NY Times article on the doctor that had been working with Eteri’s skaters:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/sports/olympics/kamila-valieva-drug-test-doctor.html

Here is access to this same article, without a paywall:

Kamila Valieva’s Doctor Has Long Worked in the Shadows of Sport

Dr. Filipp Shvetsky was listed as Valieva’s supervising physician at the Beijing Games, where it was revealed she had tested positive for a banned drug before the event. He says he didn’t administer it.

www.nytimes.com

 

[AJ Skatefan]

If looks like a duck….

 

[jamesy]

He just needs to insist he would never give his athletes water and he should have all his bases covered in terms of excuses.

“Hydrated? Not on my watch!”

 

[DreamSkates]

I wouldn’t mind a donut

You’re making me hungry! If we weren’t having so much rain from a tropical storm tomorrow I’d be going out to get one!

 

[her grace]

2010, huh? That puts a lot of Russian “victories” in question.

 

[Wyliefan]

Is that true? He started working with them in 2010 which was 12 years ago. Did Tutberidze's Junoir skaters start tearing up the Jr circuit soon after?

Yep. That was the era of Shelepen and Lipnitskaya.

 

[danafan]

Canadian press article with quotes from Skate Canada HP director Michael Slipchuk.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/figure-skating/skate-canada-kamila-valieva-court-of-arbitration-for-sport-1.6648465

 

[Yehudi]

Is that true? He started working with them in 2010 which was 12 years ago. Did Tutberidze's Junoir skaters start tearing up the Jr circuit soon after?

I dunno if he was working specifically with Team Tut, but from 2014-2018, he was heavily associated with Mozer team.