Valieva Banned for Four Years, Effective December 25, 2021

[airgelaal]

Also maybe I'm talking out of my ass rn, but surely part of the reason that camp is such an eating disorder factory is that most steroids cause hunger and weight gain, and if you are already being deprived enough food with that also in the mix it's a wonder any of these children survive.

That is why

234. The Athlete pointed to the following matters:

b. The Athlete systematically verified her medication and supplements. The Athlete used RUSADA’s “Anti-Doping PRO” application, “where hermedication and supplements were scrutinized for any prohibited substances”.When she did not find a medication or supplement in application “she sent a request … for verification of the medication in order to know if it contains something prohibited”. She did this on five occasions. One example was the“Mega Fat Burner”, the subject of her request in January 2022.

 

[MacMadame]

"...for the two year period 2020-21 the Athlete [Kamila Valieva] was given approximately 60 different medications and supplements."

https://twitter.com/LiftLoopLunge/status/1755285366024568986

Many athletes take an enormous quantity of supplements so that part isn't as unusual as you'd think. It's part of looking for any possible edge. And, yes, a lot of them are a waste of money, but they want to believe.

 

[BlueRidge]

Many athletes take an enormous quantity of supplements so that part isn't as unusual as you'd think. It's part of looking for any possible edge. And, yes, a lot of them are a waste of money, but they want to believe.

I've been wondering about this since I know nothing about it other than that there are one heck of a lot of supplements out there.

Do young healthy US elite athletes take lots of supplements?

 

[caseyedwards]

lol. All athletes take enormous amounts of things. It’s totally abnormal to all non athletes so huge lists of pills being taken and injections being given means nothing. It’s only a matter when a test is failed! How many times in figure skating have you heard of athletes with fractures taking pills and having injections? Lots.

 

[Vagabond]

Do young healthy US elite athletes take lots of supplements?

if they do, they take the risk that the supplements may be contaminated with banned or otherwise hazardous substances or may themselves be harmful.

The lengthy list of supplements that the ROC admits Valieva took isn't just shocking; it's horrifying.

 

[BlueRidge]

if they do, they take the risk that the supplements may be contaminated with banned or otherwise hazardous substances or may themselves be harmful.

The lengthy list of supplements that the ROC admits Valieva took isn't just shocking; it's horrifying.

I agree that's why I'm wondering about the taking of supplements sold legally.

 

[Sparks]

I agree that's why I'm wondering about the taking of supplements sold legally.

I go with what Nathan said on NBC. No, athletes do not take a lot of supplements, but when they do they are responsible for know what the interactions may be
Imagine how hard clean athletes have to work to compete against those who dope

 

[honey]

Ashley Wagner and Adam Ripon were talking about this on their podcast last week. I’m paraphrasing, but they basically said they were afraid to ingest anything. They stayed away from poppyseed muffins, they worried about protein shakes and multi vitamins.

I find it really hard to believe that most athletes in the USA are taking all kinds of supplements for this very reason. The risk of ingesting something banned by accident is just too high to do it.

 

[Vagabond]

Ashley Wagner and Adam Ripon were talking about this on their podcast last week. I’m paraphrasing, but they basically said they were afraid to ingest anything. They stayed away from poppyseed muffins, they worried about protein shakes and multi vitamins.

I am sure that Rafael Arutyunyan ensured that they stayed away from  all muffins, even those without poppy seeds.

 

[Rukia]

I find it really hard to believe that most athletes in the USA are taking all kinds of supplements for this very reason. The risk of ingesting something banned by accident is just too high to do it.

I mean I've heard this from current skaters too. They will check and make sure every single thing they take is approved and ok to be taking. They have people to call and ask.

In some ways I feel for Valieva because clearly she was young and doing what she was told, but also i know that other athletes around the world are her age and know they cannot just take anything. But I guess she was relying on her coaches to do right by her when their interests were their own first.

 

[bladesofgorey]

Ashley Wagner and Adam Ripon were talking about this on their podcast last week. I’m paraphrasing, but they basically said they were afraid to ingest anything. They stayed away from poppyseed muffins, they worried about protein shakes and multi vitamins.

I find it really hard to believe that most athletes in the USA are taking all kinds of supplements for this very reason. The risk of ingesting something banned by accident is just too high to do it.

Yup, I had a close friend (from Europe, not the US) who was a national class athlete and she was the only one out of her general training group who really studied the science around non-banned substances and experimented with legal supplements (she was getting an exercise physiology degree). Everyone else couldn't really be bothered/ didn't want the complications should something go wrong like an allowed substance have negative effects or reactions for them. Anyway, there were banned substances in an OTC supplement she was taking that were not listed on the label and that was the end of her career.

 

[skipaway]

Think of the water weight gain she had to also fight due to popping 60 supplements per day.

 

[MacMadame]

I've been wondering about this since I know nothing about it other than that there are one heck of a lot of supplements out there.

Do young healthy US elite athletes take lots of supplements?

It depends on the sport. In triathlon, athletes are constantly taking supplements and the elite athletes even shill for them.

Back when I was doing Ironmans and making the National and World teams on the regular, I was taking about 2x the number of supplements I am now that I barely work out. And my supplement intake was much smaller than some of the elites I knew. But I didn't take any multiple-ingredient supplements and I bought them from known sources like Nature Made and Citrical.

ETA track and field also is big on supplements. But they are also big on pushing the line and we all know about the NOP.

 

[Wyliefan]

I am sure that Rafael Arutyunyan ensured that they stayed away from  all muffins, even those without poppy seeds.

I remember a magazine profile where Sasha Cohen was ragging on John Nicks for eating a muffin.

 

[Debbie S]

I mean I've heard this from current skaters too. They will check and make sure every single thing they take is approved and ok to be taking. They have people to call and ask.

In one of their interviews in NYC last week, Madison Chock said there is a website, run by USADA, where U.S. athletes can enter the name of any supplement or med they are taking/considering to see if it contains any banned substances.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Apparently they never heard about Linda Fratianne ordering cheesecake from room service every day at the Olympics.

She’s my type of gal

 

[cholla]

That’s a lot of sh…!

You mean the girl is/was a walking lab!! I'm not a MD but it seems to me that some of these meds were given to her to counter-balance the side-effects of some others. What are these people? Sorcerer's apprentices? Why would she need meds like Cytoflavin? It's a treatment against diabetes polyneuropathy. And that's only one exemple among dozens...

BTW, why is Valieva defended by French lawyers (or at least by a French branch/office)? Are all Russian lawyers in jail?

 

[Vagabond]

BTW, why is Valieva defended by French lawyers (or at least by a French branch/office)? Are all Russian lawyers in jail?

I am not certain, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport may have particular requirements for lawyers to be admitted to practice before it, and this may be that the lawyers have to be admitted to practice in Switzerland or, possibly, the EU. Whether the ROC could find any such lawyers in Russia who would also be suitable to take the case is yet another question.

 

[Allskate]

The fact that the Athlete was a minor at the time should not be brought to account when assessing fault. She is an experienced athlete, with significant anti-doping experience. She is knowledgeable of the degree of care that is required to avoid ingesting a prohibited substance.

I think they are totally right about this in the report. Ashley (and I think Tara) has talked about how she was taught to be careful at a very young age. (I think age 13.) Once these kids start competing internationally, they are made aware of the extreme care they need to take with what they consume, both in food and supplements. I really doubt that this occurs just in the United States. (The difference in Russia might be that they are taught how to avoid detection or their teams try to administer banned substances in a manner that avoids detection.)

When you consider what has been known about the doctor and what has been known about Russia's systematic doping, then an athlete (and her mother and grandpa), should be even more careful.

 

[airgelaal]

You mean the girl is/was a walking lab!! I'm not a MD but it seems to me that some of these meds were given to her to counter-balance the side-effects of some others. What are these people? Sorcerer's apprentices? Why would she need meds like Cytoflavin? It's a treatment against diabetes polyneuropathy. And that's only one exemple among dozens...

BTW, why is Valieva defended by French lawyers (or at least by a French branch/office)? Are all Russian lawyers in jail?

Because based on his official information her French lawyer Andrea Pinna received the "Order of Friendship (Орден Дружбы) of the Russian Federation (2019)"

 

[nlloyd]

In one of their interviews in NYC last week, Madison Chock said there is a website, run by USADA, where U.S. athletes can enter the name of any supplement or med they are taking/considering to see if it contains any banned substances.

I think there is a Russian version also. At least this is what Valieva is described as doing in the CAS report (see below as noted by @airgelaal above). This leads me to believe that she may have been aware she was being given TMZ. I mean, did she run that through the database or email the authorities to ascertain its legality for an elite athlete?

234. The Athlete pointed to the following matters:

b. The Athlete systematically verified her medication and supplements. The Athlete used RUSADA’s “Anti-Doping PRO” application, “where her medication and supplements were scrutinized for any prohibited substances”.When she did not find a medication or supplement in application “she sent a request … for verification of the medication in order to know if it contains something prohibited”. She did this on five occasions. One example was the“Mega Fat Burner”, the subject of her request in January 2022.

 

[skatingguy]

You mean the girl is/was a walking lab!! I'm not a MD but it seems to me that some of these meds were given to her to counter-balance the side-effects of some others. What are these people? Sorcerer's apprentices? Why would she need meds like Cytoflavin? It's a treatment against diabetes polyneuropathy. And that's only one exemple among dozens...

BTW, why is Valieva defended by French lawyers (or at least by a French branch/office)? Are all Russian lawyers in jail?

I am not certain, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport may have particular requirements for lawyers to be admitted to practice before it, and this may be that the lawyers have to be admitted to practice in Switzerland or, possibly, the EU. Whether the ROC could find any such lawyers in Russia who would also be suitable to take the case is yet another question.

I was going to mention that proceedings are usually held in French, or English, so having legal representatives who can communicate in that language fluidly is probably advantageous.

 

[Karen-W]

I'm not sure if this tidbit from the report was quoted earlier today...

There is, in the Panel’s view, an air of unreality surrounding the idea that the Athlete, an elite athlete educated on and aware of her obligations with respect to food security, would ask a train attendant to refrigerate her strawberry dessert on the train from Moscow to St Petersburg.

Gee, ya think? They weren't havin' none o' this strawberry dessert train trip theory.

 

[Karen-W]

Really, really weren't having any of that strawberry dessert train trip theory at ALL.

The Panel also bears in mind the following:

a. As Prof. Rabin explained, if the Athlete was exposed to TMZ residues and thus to a low dose (i.e. between 0.5 mg and 7.5 mg and not between 7.5 mg and 35mg) then she would have a urine concentration of 1-1.7 ng/mL three days after the last intake – which meant that her reported urine concentration of 2.1 ng/mL on 25 December 2021 was not consistent with a scenario whereby she was exposed to TMZ contamination on or before 21 December 2021 in Moscow. If she did ingest the substance in Moscow it could only be explained on the basis that she ingested not residues but an entire pill. (When asked about this Prof. Kintz agreed that there were “serious doubts” that contamination could have occurred in Moscow.)

b. It thus became important for the Athlete to be able to say that her exposure to the TMZ continued after 21 December 2021, which she has now done by reference to the strawberry dessert, which she says she carried with her and ate over the days she spent in St Petersburg, with her last in time eating of the dessert some 50 hours prior to the test.

c. There is therefore a coherent basis to say, as the Appellants have done, that the account now advanced by which the contamination did not take place in Moscow but in St Petersburg by dint of the Athlete taking with her a strawberry dessert and eating it in the days leading up to her competition has been crafted in order to fit the science.

Whoa, did they call bull-puckey on that, lol.

 

[Judy]

The awful part is that she was 15 and Russia is state sponsored doping Her entourage basically threw her to the wolves.

 

[airgelaal]

To be honest, if she had simply said “I don’t know” without any of these wild stories, then the punishment would have been lighter. Nobody likes to be considered idiots.

 

[Karen-W]

To be honest, if she had simply said “I don’t know” without any of these wild stories, then the punishment would have been lighter. Nobody likes to be considered idiots.

I think she might have been better off trying a "food contamination at RusNats" defense than the strawberry dessert one, but that would have thrown the FSFR under the bus and clearly the adults in the room weren't willing to take that fall.

 

[Allskate]

Whoa, did they call bull-puckey on that, lol.

Yep. Which is why I call bull-puckey on this part of the report:

It has to be said that the Panel found her to be an honest, straightforward and credible witness and her protestations of innocence believable. She is plainly an intelligent and articulate young woman

Is there anybody who really believes her story that she brought and was eating grandpa's strawberry dessert while she was at the competition?

 

[Karen-W]

The shade is hard from the FS world when even Jackie Wong comments...

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/1755293932416561538?t=y0T_iScq4pDUBabWm3u9_Q&s=19

Lololol

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

The shade is hard from the FS world when even Jackie Wong comments...

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/1755293932416561538?t=y0T_iScq4pDUBabWm3u9_Q&s=19

Lololol

Christine Brennan posted stats about the 129 page document

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