2022 Beijing Olympics – Figure Skating – Training Rink Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing, China – February 10, 2022. Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee during training. REUTERS/Toby Melville
February 11, 2022
By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber
BEIJING (Reuters) -Russia’s figure skating teenage sensation Kamila Valieva took to the ice on Friday again at the Beijing Olympics as reports of her testing positive for a banned substance remain unresolved and the medal ceremony for the teams figure skating delayed.
Russia won the team event on Monday, but the medal ceremony on Wednesday was delayed for legal reasons, with Russian media reporting Valieva had failed a drug test.
Valieva, who had already practiced at the rink adjacent to the Capital Indoor Stadium on Thursday https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/figure-skating-medals-ceremony-delayed-over-legal-consultation-2022-02-09, is still scheduled to take part in the women’s single event on Tuesday.
The female figure skaters representing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) have another training slot available at 1305 local time (0305GMT) on Friday, which they are free to skip.
Her hair in a bun, Valieva wore a forest green long-sleeved shirt, black tights under padded shorts as she skated some of her programme in one sequence with music.
With Maurice Ravel’s Bolero resounding through the Capital Indoor Stadium, the 15-year-old seemed to think she was supposed to run through her short programme, prompting one of her coaches, Gleikhengauz, to tell her to move to the centre of the ice to rehearse her free skate.
Valieva did not skate a full run through of her free programme, but began to execute quadruple jumps with only a few minutes left for practice.
She then walked straight towards the dressing room in skate guards, not reacting to a reporter shouting “Kamila! Kamila!”.
Valieva appeared some 25 minutes after fellow Russia skaters Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova, the world champion, under the eyes of coaches Eteri Tutberidze, Sergei Dudakov and Daniil Gleikhengauz.
Valieva was part of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team that won the figure skating team event on Monday, ahead of the United States and Japan. But their medal ceremony was delayed for unexplained “legal reasons”, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said.
Russian athletes are already competing without their flag and anthem because of sanctions for past doping violations.
Russian media reported on Wednesday that Valieva had returned a positive test, with newspapers RBC and Kommersant naming the drug as Trimetazidine, which is typically used to treat angina.
The ROC and Russian figure skating federation have not commented.
The IOC has also declined to comment, citing legal reasons, with the International Skating Union (ISU) saying it could not disclose any information.
Valieva’s case is complicated by her age as according to WADA’s world anti-doping code, athletes who commit doping violations should be publicly named, but this is not required if the person is a minor under 18.
Katarina Witt, one of the sport’s greats, offered her support https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/figure-skating-katarina-witt-backs-valieva-blames-russians-entourage-2022-02-11 to Valieva, pointing her finger at the teenager’s entourage.
“As an athlete, you always follow the advice of your confidants, in this case she probably followed her coach and medical team,” Witt, who won Olympic gold for East Germany in 1984 and 1988, said.
“It is a shame, and the responsible adults should be banned from the sport forever!!! What they knowingly did to her, if true, cannot be surpassed in inhumanity and makes my athlete’s heart cry infinitely.”
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Julien Pretot; Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Michael Perry)
Source: One America News Network
