The Beijing Winter Olympics are tainted by a doping scandal and, again, with Russia as the protagonist. This time, in a crisis of unprecedented proportions in sport.
In summary: Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old teenager who was the big star of the Olympics, tested positive in a test carried out in December, was automatically suspended on Tuesday (8), had her suspension revoked by Russia on Wednesday (9) and, now, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) works to ban her from continuing to compete in China.
On Monday (7), Valieva gave a show in her second performance in the team competition of ice skating, closing with a golden key the participation of the Russian team, which won the gold medal. Undefeated since she made her international debut as an adult last year, after being the best junior skater in history, Valieva hit two quadruple jumps, an exercise that was still unheard of for women at the Olympics.
The result was of great importance in international geopolitics, because the skating was played in the morning in Beijing to be shown in prime time on US TV, to a huge audience. Russia won the contest with the Americans, with a phenomenal performance from Valieva. But now, faced with yet another doping case, he can hand over the gold on a platter to his arch-rivals.
For now, the medals of the Russian team have not even been handed out. And it was precisely the cancellation of the awards ceremony that started a buzz in Beijing. On Wednesday, the website Inside The Games, an expert on the Olympic movement, reported that Valieva, a minor, had been caught doping – and the IOC was figuring out what to do.
It was the spark to be lit and several websites published texts about an alleged doping of a Russian teenager, but no authority spoke about the matter.
The silence was broken this Friday morning in Beijing by the ITA, an independent agency that has managed the anti-doping area of several international federations and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In a statement, the ITA said that the anti-doping code forbids exposing Valieva, who is a minor, a “protected person”, but that the complexity of the case in the middle of an Olympics and the disclosure of what happened by the press required a different position.
The ITA therefore confirmed that Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a metabolic modulator, in a test taken at the Russian Championships on Christmas Day by Russia’s anti-doping agency Rusada. As the laboratory in Moscow remains closed, the sample was sent to the laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden, which on Tuesday (8) informed Rusada of the positive result for the modulator.
Like trimetazidina is an unspecified (most serious) substance on the World Anti-Doping Code banned list, provisional suspension is mandatory. That’s what Rusada did on Tuesday. Suspended, the skater should lose the Olympic credential, which also counts as a visa to stay in China, and return home. In 2018, in the same case, an athlete of bobsled from Russia, who tested positive for the same substance, was expelled from the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
But, according to the ITA, before that happened, Valieva challenged the suspension before the Rusada disciplinary committee, which, on the same day, Wednesday, decided to withdraw the punishment. Thus, the skater obtained authorization to continue competing in Beijing. Faced with Russia’s history of covering up doping cases, which even prevents the country from competing in another Olympics with its flag, the posture caused discomfort.
According to the ITA, the IOC will exercise its right of appeal and will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which has set up an interim office in Beijing for rapid decision-making at the Olympics. Russia has jurisdiction over the case, but the IOC understands that it has the right not to await the outcome of the Russian anti-doping agency’s judgment and must turn to CAS to discuss Valieva’s provisional suspension.
For the IOC, a decision needs to be made before Valieva’s next participation, which is the women’s skating contest, starting on Monday, in which the Russian is a huge favorite. Meanwhile, the other Russian athletes, who won the team competition, are not sure if they will receive their gold medals. The future of the award will be decided by the International Skating Federation, the ISU, after the final judgment in Valieva’s doping case.
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