Was allowed to train in the Beijing ice rink on Friday: European champion Kamila Valiewa from Russia
Photo: AFP / Anne-Christine POUJOULAT
She has been running with the adults since this winter and so far there has not been a women’s competition that Kamila Valiewa hasn’t won: After the European Championships in January, she also won the team competition with the Russian team on Monday and thus her Olympic gold. The 15-year-old figure skater is rightly called the talent of the century.
But at the latest since the medal ceremony of the team competition was postponed on Tuesday due to “legal ambiguities”, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced, dark clouds have come up over the Ice Princess from Kazan. On the one hand, the Russians are not even taking part under the Russian flag at the 2014 Winter Games because of the proven state-orchestrated doping, and on top of that there is the tense general political climate with tensions on the Ukrainian-Russian border, which is causing the scandal that Valiyeva is now at the center of give explosiveness. Since Friday, the teenager has been the focus of an Olympic doping scandal, which will not be over when the International Court of Arbitration for Sport Cas has issued its first verdict on whether Valiyeva will be allowed to take part in the women’s competition next Tuesday or not.
But first the well-known facts: Kamila Valiewa was tested on December 25, 2021 by the Russian anti-doping agency Rusada at the Russian Championships in St. Petersburg. Because of previous doping scams, no Russian laboratory is currently recognized by the world anti-doping agency Wada, which is why the samples were sent to the Wada-accredited laboratory at Stockholm’s Karolinska University. This informed Rusada on February 8, i.e. only six weeks later, that figure skater Valiyeva had tested positive for trimetazidine: a heart drug that is usually used to treat angina pectoris but has been banned in sport as a performance-enhancing substance since 2014.
When the Russian side was informed of the positive test, Valiyeva had already won gold with the team the day before – a real image disaster for the Russians. According to the rules, Rusada immediately suspended the athlete and informed the IOC or the International Test Organization Ita, which is responsible for anti-doping at the games.
For the young Russian, the games were over for the time being. But the athlete appealed and was given the opportunity to comment on the allegations to Rusada the next day. After this hearing on Wednesday evening, the Russian anti-doping agency decided to lift the suspension. Suddenly, the miracle runner was again eligible to train in the Beijing ice rink and compete in the individual on Tuesday.
Rusada announced that it would publish a statement promptly, but neither the IOC nor the Ita wanted to wait for that. The latter released a statement on Friday and announced that it would appeal against the lifting of the suspension before the Cas. He now has to make a decision in an urgent procedure before Tuesday if possible.
Regardless of all the legal battles, European champion Valiyeva practiced her quadruple jumps and pirouettes on Friday at the Capital Indoor Stadium in front of Eteri Tutberidze. She did not comment on the allegations, nor did her trainer Tutberidze. Many questions about the case are unanswered, especially the one that is asked again and again in Russia: Why does it take six weeks for the test results from Stockholm to be sent to Rusada? »nd« asked in Stockholm on Friday. A spokeswoman said on behalf of Anton Pohanka, director of the doping control laboratory at Karolinska University Hospital, that the laboratory was “in no way allowed to comment on an ongoing procedure”. This violates the Wada code of ethics.
dr Hans Geyer, whose laboratory at the Institute for Biochemistry at the German Sport University in Cologne carries out doping tests for Wada, told nd on Friday that a result should usually be presented “within 20 calendar days”. “In the event of delays, for example technical problems, the Testing Authority must be informed.” In this case, this testing authority is Rusada: “They should have been informed.”
Has Rusada received any information about a delay in testing? This is what »nd« wanted to know from the Rusada. However, the Russian anti-doping agency did not want to answer such specific questions yesterday, but only responded to the request in a short email. “There will be an official Rusada statement on this situation on the website www.rusada.ru shortly.”
On Friday afternoon, a statement was actually available, which, however, provided little that enlightened the nd questions. At least Rusada announced that the test result from Stockholm was received on February 7, 2022. It was then available on February 8 with a delay due to the corona. In addition, investigations have been launched against other people from the athlete’s environment, after all Valiyeva is a minor.
