Russian Figure Skater Kamila Valieva Tests Positive for TMZ

[Huntn]

It's not a wonder grow special powers drug. It sucks that Russians are still cheating bastards - they cannot help themselves, but let's not get carried away with what a drug can do when it comes to figure skating ability though.

Every country, my guess every group of people are capable of cheating. We just need competant, uncorrupted judging.

 

[User.168]

.

 

[shadow puppet]

She's only 15. She was probably following what she was instructed to do. Not making excuses, just find the entire situation beyond sad. Kamila is such a talent and this will follow her the rest of her life.

 

[JayMysteri0]

You had to know this was coming

Sha'Carri Richardson sees a double standard in allowing Kamila Valieva to compete

"The only difference I see is I'm a black young lady," U.S. sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson said, after the Russian figure skater is allowed to compete at the Olympics despite a failed drug test.

www.npr.org

U.S. sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson is calling out Olympic and anti-doping officials, after Russian skater Kamila Valieva was allowed to compete despite testing positive for a banned drug.

"Can we get a solid answer on the difference" between their situations? Richardson asked on Twitter, after mediators ruled that Valieva should be allowed to skate in the women's individual competition in Beijing.

"The only difference I see is I'm a black young lady," Richardson said.

"It's all in the skin," she added.

Richardson won the 100-meter race at the U.S. Olympic trials early last summer, but after it was revealed that she had tested positive for THC, the intoxicant in marijuana, she was denied a chance to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

THC is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of prohibited substances — but so is trimetazidine, the drug that was found in Valieva's test sample. The heart drug is believed to be able to boost athletes' endurance and blood efficiency. In other words, it can boost athletic performance, while THC does not.

Richardson pointed out that difference in her tweets responding to the ruling on Valieva's eligibility at the Winter Olympics.

Richardson, who like Valieva was favored to win a medal in her sport, also noted a stark difference in how their positive tests were handled. While the Russian star failed a test that was submitted in December, she somehow avoided a suspension.

News of the positive test only began to trickle out after Valieva helped her team win a gold medal in Beijing. In contrast, Richardson said, her drug test result quickly became public knowledge. "My name & talent was slaughtered to the people," she added.

Valieva is being allowed to compete in Beijing under a cloud of suspicion — and in an extraordinary move, the International Olympic Committee says that if the Russian star wins, a medal ceremony won't take place until a doping investigation is completed. That could thrust the singles competition into the same limbo that has held up medals for the team event, in which Russia took gold and the U.S. silver.

Richardson's suspension just before the Tokyo Olympics triggered an outpouring of support for her and criticism for anti-doping rules, particularly because cannabis has shed much of the stigma it once carried. Dozens of U.S. states have legalized its use to some degree

 

[Herdfan]

As well she should.

 

[Clix Pix]

Oh, I'm sure they'll say that it is because of Kamila's young age that she is being permitted to skate after all and that if she didn't have the opportunity to do so and yet were exonerated from the doping issue, her whole life would be ruined..... as if her career hasn't already been tainted anyway. Thing is, Sha'Carri Richardson's career has been irreparably damaged now, too, and for a lesser "crime."

 

[Herdfan]

Thing is, Sha'Carri Richardson's career has been irreparably damaged now, too, and for a lesser "crime."

Not really. Her earnings may have been, but she didn't take a performance enhancing substance, Kamila did.

So the next time Sha'Carri runs I am not going to be thinking her run is tainted because of drugs, I will think that of Kamila.

 

[Clix Pix]

Yes, no matter what the outcome of this whole mess is, Kamila's career has definitely been tainted and this is something which will haunt her the rest of her life.

 

[ronntaylor]

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1494405085459267586/

 

[lizkat]

Yeah I'm with Witt... and Weir and Lipinski on the NBC crew.

The CAS should never have let her compete. That court's view of "irreparable harm" was way off the mark, as any of the Olympic athletes could have made clear to them.

I mean what actually ensued with Valieva, how does that stack up in the irreparable harm department??! The child folded under all the pressure, skated a disastrous routine, falling entirely out of several jumps and then melted down on global television. She'll not get over that in a couple months.

Valieva is "a protected person" because of her age, yes, but she could have just been told she could not compete due to the failed doping test, and that a rule is a rule, even though her suspension was due to the failure of the adults around her. A little therapy, some time with friends and family, she's FIFTEEN, she'd soon be back on the ice with new coaches and maybe a little healthy skepticism about medications. Who the hell knows how long it will take her to recover from what happened instead.

Then there's the harm done to the medallists and the other competitors, having to skate knowing they hadn't been dealing with a level field, maybe wondering about each other, and then everyone having to wait for the several meltdowns to be handled after the finish. The way the Russian crew dealt with all that chaos was completely incompetent and shameful.

Did you see the footage of the gold medallist Shcherbakova? Not when she'd just finished her skate, but later, standing around all by herself for minute after minute, during the after-skate meltdowns of the two other Russians, and finally sitting down to wait with no one but that teddy bear to keep her company for too long.

​

Talk about irreparable harm. That's a once in lifetime moment, winning a first gold medal at the Olympics! Does she look like she's having the time of her life? Someone needs to make the CAS watch that part of the footage over and over for about an hour.

 

[Huntn]

She's only 15. She was probably following what she was instructed to do. Not making excuses, just find the entire situation beyond sad. Kamila is such a talent and this will follow her the rest of her life.

She probably was given no choice if she wanted to skate for Mother Russia, but it’s the entire team and the coaches who should be sanctioned prohibited from competing when they blatantly condone, violate rules, and force their team to cheat. I have no doubt of the extent of their influence and complicity,

 

[Eric]

Yeah I'm with Witt... and Weir and Lipinski on the NBC crew.

The CAS should never have let her compete. That court's view of "irreparable harm" was way off the mark, as any of the Olympic athletes could have made clear to them.

I mean what actually ensued with Valieva, how does that stack up in the irreparable harm department??! The child folded under all the pressure, skated a disastrous routine, falling entirely out of several jumps and then melted down on global television. She'll not get over that in a couple months.

Valieva is "a protected person" because of her age, yes, but she could have just been told she could not compete due to the failed doping test, and that a rule is a rule, even though her suspension was due to the failure of the adults around her. A little therapy, some time with friends and family, she's FIFTEEN, she'd soon be back on the ice with new coaches and maybe a little healthy skepticism about medications. Who the hell knows how long it will take her to recover from what happened instead.

Then there's the harm done to the medallists and the other competitors, having to skate knowing they hadn't been dealing with a level field, maybe wondering about each other, and then everyone having to wait for the several meltdowns to be handled after the finish. The way the Russian crew dealt with all that chaos was completely incompetent and shameful.

Did you see the footage of the gold medallist Shcherbakova? Not when she'd just finished her skate, but later, standing around all by herself for minute after minute, during the after-skate meltdowns of the two other Russians, and finally sitting down to wait with no one but that teddy bear to keep her company for too long.

View attachment 11784​

Talk about irreparable harm. That's a once in lifetime moment, winning a first gold medal at the Olympics! Does she look like she's having the time of her life? Someone needs to make the CAS watch that part of the footage over and over for about an hour.

This girl never asked for any of this, left to train and compete in a normal setting she would likely be a world star with her talents. The Russian government just can't help but fuck up everyone and everything thing they get their filthy hands on.

This is a shame, she deserved better.

 

[Clix Pix]

This whole thing was an utter disaster and that poor girl will probably never fully recover from it, and I would guess that many of the other skaters, her fellow Russians and the members of other countries' teams will also be thinking about this for years as well. My heart aches for all of the parties involved, but especially Kamila. She has been brutally traumatized and I wouldn't be surprised if she decides never to put on a pair of ice skates again. That's the real tragedy here, as the girl obviously is quite gifted and could have had a superb career.

I hope that somehow Kamila and her family manage to get the heck out of Russia and find their way to a country which actually respects its citizens -- athletes and non-athletes alike, and treats them as the very real human beings they are.

 

[shadow puppet]

I have been watching Olympic ice skating since I was 5 years old. Seeing what unfolded last night was heartbreaking. On so many different levels.

The gold medalist looking around, this way and that, for someone, anyone, just to give her a hug and congratulate her. The silver medalist having a hissy fit saying she wouldn't participate in the medal ceremony because she couldn't fathom that all jumps and little artistry didn't garner her the gold.

Then the key player, Kamila herself. That was beyond painful to watch. Only to be followed by her coach berating her the second she stepped off the ice:

Many think Valieva was covering her ears so she couldn't hear her coach. IDK, maybe just holding her head in her hands. Either way, it was truly sad.

Or seeing her lean away from her coach and towards her choreographer for comfort. Body language is everything.

I hope the IOC heard Weir when he said something along the lines of "IOC, do you still think you avoided irreparable harm now?" after seeing Kamila utterly distraught. Weir's "thank God" when Kamila didn't medal, said everything. Had Valieva medaled, there would have been no medal ceremony and the other medalists would have been cheated out of living that prize of an Olympic experience.

No. This should never have been allowed to happen. I hope these young athletes get the proper support and therapy they need to heal and move forward with their lives.

 

[SuperMatt]

I have been watching Olympic ice skating since I was 5 years old. Seeing what unfolded last night was heartbreaking. On so many different levels.

The gold medalist looking around, this way and that, for someone, anyone, just to give her a hug and congratulate her. The silver medalist having a hissy fit and saying she wouldn't participate in the medal ceremony because she couldn't fathom that all jumps and little artistry didn't garner her the gold.

Then the key player, Kamila herself. That was beyond painful to watch. Only to be followed by her coach berating her the second she stepped off the ice:

Many think Valieva was covering her ears so she couldn't hear her coach. IDK, maybe just holding her head in her hands. Either way, it was truly sad.

Or seeing her lean away from her coach and towards her choreographer for comfort. Body language is everything.

I hope the IOC heard Weir when he said something along the lines of "IOC, do you still think you avoided irreparable harm now?" after seeing Kamila utterly distraught. Weir's "thank God" when Kamila didn't medal, said everything. Had Valieva medaled, there would have been no medal ceremony and the other medalists would have been cheated out of living that prize of Olympic experiences.

No. This should never have been allowed to happen. I hope these young athletes get the proper support and therapy they need to heal and move forward with their lives.

Plus, they may have been forcing minors to ingest illegal substances. Russia should be banned from the next olympics, period.

 

[shadow puppet]

Unfortunately, there are younger girls waiting in the wings. Already victims of the Russian training machine.

 

[lizkat]

Unfortunately, there are younger girls waiting in the wings. Already victims of the Russian training machine.

Yep, and in a way this was probably Shcherbakova's last good shot at Olympic gold, since her thing is more sheer will along with decent but not spectacular triple jumps and great artistic sense. All the talk now though is of how many quads the younger upcomers can manage, and speculation on when someone will manage a quintuple spin in public performance.

The younger girls increasingly focus on that and at their age have way less artistry on board as well, so they're (inadvertently) pushing the sport more towards measuring excellence in the way that's done for athletes who focus on sports like pole vaulting, the broad jump and shot put. What counts there is going the distance to make the mark. So in skating now it's how many complete rotations while airborne.

So far the official judging of figure skaters still has all the detail mark-ups for technique other than jumps, as well as for choreography and artistic presentation (hence the angry confusion of Trusova on Tuesday night, after all those quads weren't enough to get her the gold). The Russian coaches in particular --but by no means alone-- are emphasizing jump spin count as the key to Olympic success while time moves on now for their youngest charges.

Meanwhile orthopedists around the world bemoan the ever increasing wear and tear on knees, hips and spines of all these young skaters trying to meet expectations of quad jumps as "routine". What has instead become routine, unfortunately, is a history of surgery on teenage skaters just to keep their legs and spines functional. Of course it has to enter a skater's mind after a disastrous performance that "maybe next time" gets harder and harder to envision reaching with all that increased risk of injury. The coaches know that too and Valieva's coach likely had that in mind post-skate on Tuesday, while lashing out at the child over "letting it all go" after the first botched jump. The pressure being put on these young girls is really unforgivable.

 

[SuperMatt]

I heard an argument today that the Olympics should only allow competitors 18 and older. The idea is that minors are being pressured or forced to do things they don’t want to do, especially in countries with fewer individual freedoms.

 

[lizkat]

after seeing Kamila utterly distraught.

That frame you posted with Valieva seeking solace from her choreographer really got to me. Maybe by time they got to the kiss and cry area, the coach was trying to console the girl too but it was clear Kamila wasn't buying it from that side.

How did the CAS figure irreparable harm was not going to accrue to a little girl allowed ( or shall we say forced? ) to skate when she was caught between rocks and hard places in a sea of adults all looking to paper over the fact that the Russians haven't given up doping as a way to win gold at athletic events.

The Russians really didn't take any lesson (and weren't forced to take any lesson) from the wrist slaps they got after the doping scandals of Sochi. Everyone at or watching the Beijing Olympics knew "ROC" was Russia. Everyone will know it's Russia getting the gold and silver in the medals won on Tuesday, even though the music played will be a few bars from Tschaikovsky rather than the Russian national anthem.

What happened in Beijing with the skaters from Russia is grounds to ban Russia's athletes from the next Olympic competition, unfair as that may be to any of the Russian athletes who do perform cleanly. Russia has now (again!) proven itself a country that will never take seriously --as a stop sign against doping-- anything less than a total ban for a few cycles on their participation in Olympic sport. Then they probably get to watch stellar athletes seek a way out of Russia to train in and eventually represent countries that as a part of respecting competitive sport will also respect the minds and bodies of the athletes. That might sink in, no? If not, then make the ban permanent next time around.

Honestly I don't know why Putin allows this stuff to go on in Russian coaching, it only casts an unnecessary shadow on his leadership, when Russia --like other nations-- clearly does have talented athletes capable of winning clean races. You'd think after Sochi that Putin would have made it plain that coaches too can fall out of windows and etc etc. if they offend the upper echelons of Russian government by cheating and getting caught at it and so making an embarrassing spectacle of the country at the Olympics.

But maybe he did make it plain after Sochi. Maybe the coaches figured hey okay we get it, but we just won't get caught next time. If that's what happened, those figure skating coaches better suit up with food tasters, body armor, and parachutes even if just going out for coffee in future. What finally unfolded in all its ugliness at the Beijing Olympics Tuesday night made history for Russian figure skating in a way no country should have to hope to sweep under a rug as time goes by. It affected not only the young principal at the center of the doping scandal but her teammates and all the other figure skating competitors and the eventual medalists as well.

I'll never forget the lost look on the gold medalist's face as she waited alone for the post-skate chaos to get sorted out and for her own coaches to resume congratulating her for winning an iconic Olympic sport's top honor. She's just a teenager too and it must have been so hard for her to stand there alone and to endure hearing her teammate Trusova completely melt down over not getting the gold instead of silver.

And that hissy fit of Trusova is one more reason to raise the age bar to 18 if you ask me. A few years can make a huge difference in ability to conduct oneself professionally in public during deep disappointment. Sportsmanship is an essential part of sport. Without it, we're basically talking about street fights.

 

[shadow puppet]

I'll never forget the lost look on the gold medalist's face as she waited alone for the post-skate chaos to get sorted out and for her own coaches to resume congratulating her for winning an iconic Olympic sport's top honor. She's just a teenager too and it must have been so hard for her to stand there alone and to endure hearing her teammate Trusova completely melt down over not getting the gold instead of silver.

Shcherbakova looked like a lost puppy instead of what should have been sheer elation in being crowned Olympic champion.

Skater Adam Rippon nailed it.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1494319132623441926/

I felt like I was like watching Bela Karolyi level damage all over again.

I enjoy the thrill of jumps but I hate this trend of quads over artistry. I miss a Michelle Kwan spiral with a glowing smile of sheer joy on her face. Or the emotional storytelling & artistic lines of an exceptional pairs team the likes of Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov.

It's simply not worth seeing a teenager emotionally broken like this on live television. Everyone involved who allowed this to happen should be ashamed. To paraphrase an article about this debacle, the decision to green-light Valieva to skate, allowed this emotional abuse to thrive. For me, that is unforgivable.