the russian figure skater Kamila Valieva15-year-old favorite for individual Olympic gold at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and who was proclaimed Olympic champion with the Russian team (the medals have not yet been awarded), tested positive for trimetazidinaa drug prescribed for adults to treat angina pectoris and on the list of prohibited substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA or WADA), during an anti-doping control conducted at At the end of Decemberas confirmed this Friday by the agency in charge of anti-doping controls (ITA).
The positive control appeared after analyzing a sample from the skater who took the December 25thChristmas day, during the Russian Figure Skating Championship, which was held in the city of Saint Petersburg.
provisional suspension
The Russian authorities provisionally suspended it, but lifted the veto on february 9two days after winning the team olympic gold, indicated the ITA. Therefore, the young promise of skating, who is a minor and who is protected by this circumstance, traveled to China with the consent of the authorities of her country who knew of the positive from Saint Petersburg.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) appealed the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS), which must make a final decision on the matter, before the next day 15, which is when the individual skating program begins at the Games. The initial suspicion of doping jumped on Wednesday when Mark Adamscommunication director of the IOC, stated at a press conference that the awarding of medals for the figure skating team program, won by Russia with Valieva in their ranks for a “legal” problem that was being studied. Valievalike the rest of the participants of the Russian delegation, competes in Beijing 2022 under the acronym ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) since they are prohibited from wearing the flag of their country or playing the anthem in case of getting a gold medal. This prohibition is due to the sanction that the country maintains due to state doping that affected a significant number of Russian athletes in numerous disciplines of both the winter and summer program of the Games.
She is 15 year old
Valievaa teenager of only 15 years, a minor, therefore, she earned the worldwide admirationafter becoming the first woman to perform a quadruple jump in an Olympic Games.
The Russian Olympic Committee has ensured that Valieva has the right to continue participating in the Games despite having tested positive based on the legislation that protects minors. In addition, they defend that the positive test occurred before the Games, so “the gold won by Russia in Beijing should not be questioned.”
However, the affected countries, U.Swho won silver, Japan, who got bronze and Canada, who would achieve the bronze if the Russian disqualification occurred, do not think the same. The team medals are still not awarded with the curiosity that some award-winning participants have already left China due to the demands of the local authorities that do not allow athletes to stay in the country after competing due to the demanding anticovid measures.
official information
“The ITA wishes to inform that Kamila Valievaa member of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) delegation in Beijing, is a minor and therefore a ‘protected person’ under the World Anti-Doping Code. This condition applies to minors based on the World Anti-Doping Code. For this reason, the ITA was not required to publish the name of the affected person. However, seeing that some media skipped this protection, the ITA has been forced to disclose public information,” the body responsible for controls from Beijing reported this Friday.
From here, the case is in the hands of the CAS, since both the World Anti-Doping Agency and the IOC have appealed the provisional lifting of the sanction decided by the Russian anti-doping agency.
