Beijing (AP) – IOC President Thomas Bach expressed sympathy for Kamila Valiewa after her bitter Olympic final and sharply criticized the environment with the trainer of the Russian figure skater.
“When I saw her being greeted by those around her with what felt like tremendous chills – it sent chills down my spine to see what was happening,” Bach said. “Instead of comforting her, instead of helping her after what happened, you could feel how freezing the atmosphere was. Experiencing such a distance just by looking at that person’s body language is only imaginary made worse.”
Fourth in the Olympic final
After days of doping hype and a lead from the short program, gold favorite Kamila Valiewa made several mistakes in her freestyle and finished fourth. The 15-year-old then received no consolation from her coach Eteri Tutberidze, but rather harsh and disturbing words.
Bach reported that he was “very disappointed and upset” when he watched the figure skating freestyle program on television and spoke of a “condescending gesture”. “Can you be so cold towards your own athletes?” He had thought about it, said the head of the International Olympic Committee. “None of this gives me any particular confidence in Kamila’s environment – neither in terms of the situation that has played out in the past, nor in the future.”
Bach posed the question of how to deal with underage athletes aged 15 in the future and specifically addressed the situation of Valiyeva again. “All I can wish for her is that she has the support, the support from her family, the support from friends and ultimately from people who will help her to put this enormously difficult situation behind her.”
A positive doping test by Valiyeva on December 25 only became known during the Winter Games in Beijing. The Cas judges nevertheless allowed her to start in the Olympic women’s singles in view of her status as a minor and the incomplete doping process.
IOC wants discussion about minimum age in top sport
As a consequence of the scandal, the IOC is urging the world associations to review a general minimum age in top-class sport. “These issues need to be addressed,” Bach said. But it needs “careful consideration and consultation”. The IOC will initiate discussions with the world associations and “give them something to think about,” said Bach. However, only the respective professional associations can decide, not the IOC.
The World Anti-Doping Agency must also review how minors are treated and their “protected person” status, Bach said. He basically asks himself how to deal with underage athletes in the future. So far there is only a minimum age for participants in a few Olympic sports such as gymnastics.
As early as 2014 in Sochi, her student Julia Lipnizkaja, when she was 15, was the youngest figure skater to win team gold. Three years later she ended her career because of anorexia. The now 19-year-old Alina Zagitova, who won individual gold in Pyeongchang in 2018 at the age of 15, has not competed in competitions for a long time.
Valiewa wants to have the B sample opened
The Russian figure skater now wants to use the B sample to prove her innocence. The 15-year-old will apply for the B sample to be examined because, among other things, there could have been a technical error by the Stockholm anti-doping laboratory when analyzing her doping test, explained Valiyeva’s lawyers. This emerges from the 41-page verdict for the summary proceedings in the case, which the International Court of Arbitration for Sport Cas published.
In her defense, Valiyeva’s lawyers referred to the “extremely low concentration” of the heart drug trimetazidine, which is prohibited under anti-doping rules, and which had been detected in the A sample. During doping controls, athletes provide urine, two-thirds of which is filled into an A sample bottle. The remainder forms the B sample.
Was grandpa’s heart drug to blame?
In the verdict, the lawyers’ attempt to justify the positive test with Valiyeva’s contact with her grandfather, who has a heart condition, can be read in detail. The banned substance had accidentally entered the athlete’s body through contamination.
Valiyeva’s grandfather often drove her to training and spent a lot of time with her. After a heart transplant, he regularly takes trimetazidine and usually carries the medicine with him. A video showing the grandfather in his car with a pack of the drug also served as evidence.