Beijing 2022: Doping hearing to decide Russian skater’s fate

The International Testing Agency (ITA) confirmed in a statement on Friday that Russian figure skating sensation Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The agency said it would lead an appeal on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) against a decision by Russia’s anti-doping agency to lift a provisional ban.

What’s the latest?

Valieva, 15, tested positive for trimetazidine, a metabolic agent that is prescribed for the treatment of angina and vertigo.

The substance is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency because it can increase blood flow efficiency and help endurance.

The ITA said Valieva submitted the sample during the Russian championships on December 25. However, the positive test had not been confirmed by an internationally-accredited laboratory until Tuesday.

Russian media reported the positive test after a ceremony — also on Tuesday — to present Valieva and her teammates with their Olympic gold medals was postponed for unexplained legal reasons.

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) then provisionally suspended Valieva, which would have ruled her out of the Olympics. However, the skater was successful in challenging that decision and the ban was lifted on Wednesday.

It’s that lifting of the ban that the ITA says it will challenge on behalf of the Games’ organizers.

What comes next?

The case will be decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport before February 15, when Valieva is scheduled to take part in the individual event at the Olympics, the ITA said.

The skater has already taken part in the team event and became the first woman in history to produce a quadruple jump in Olympic competition.

Because of a massive state-sponsored doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Russian athletes are competing under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee.

The IOC itself has said it wants to expedite the case as quickly as possible and will wait for it to be over before commenting directly.

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  Beijing 2022: Memorable moments at the Winter Games

  Seemingly weightless

  Figure skater Nathan Chen conjured up a performance as technically sound as it was artistically impressive in men’s figure skating. The American executed moves of the highest difficulty one after another, remained almost flawless in all parts of his routine and claimed a richly deserved gold.

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  Beijing 2022: Memorable moments at the Winter Games

  Between the cultures

  “In America I’m American, in China I’m Chinese.” Eileen Gu repeats this sentence like a mantra at almost every press conference. The 18-year-old is already the face of the games and was so even before the start in Beijing. Born and raised in the United States, the ski freestyler has been competing for China for some time and won gold in the big air competition in Beijing.

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  Beijing 2022: Memorable moments at the Winter Games

  Out of nowhere

  An unbelievable comeback! Petra Vlhova can hardly come to terms with it. After her first run in the slalom, the Slovak was only in seventh place and the medals seemed to be gone. But, with a flawless second run, she overtook all her rivals to her total surprise and delight.

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  Beijing 2022: Memorable moments at the Winter Games

  Say it ain’t so

  Surely, not again? After her early exit in the giant slalom, gold medal favorite Mikaela Shiffrin was also eliminated in the slalom after just a few gates. In this tough moment, the 26-year-old American’s mind turned to her father, who died in a tragic accident two years ago. “I would really like to call him now,” Shiffrin said tearfully. “But he’s not here anymore.”

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  Beijing 2022: Memorable moments at the Winter Games

  Sweeping all before them

  “Piu, piu, piu” — “more, more, more” — Stefania Constantini calls out to her partner, Amos Mosaner, again and again when she wants him to sweep harder. The Italian pair set the standard in mixed-doubles curling, winning every game on their way to gold.

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  Beijing 2022: Memorable moments at the Winter Games

  Beware the bend

  Even before the luge events begin, all the athletes tremble a little at the thought of the exit of the 13th bend. If you stray from the ideal line here, a fall is almost assured. That’s exactly what happened to the big gold medal favorite, Julia Taubitz. After setting a course record in the first run, she crashed at the key point in her second, and any chance of a medal fell away, too.

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  Beijing 2022: Memorable moments at the Winter Games

  Warming win

  Pain or joy? It’s not easy to tell Therese Johaug’s prevailing emotion after her victory in the skiathlon. At the finish line, the Norwegian, who sprinted away from the competition in temperatures of -16 degrees Celsius (3 F), is certainly hurting at first, but the euphoria came soon after. This was her first individual Olympic victory and the first gold medal to be awarded in Beijing this year.

  Author: Andreas Sten-Ziemons

US and Russia take different stances

Meanwhile, the United States could prosecute the Russians involved in Valieva’s alleged doping case under the American Rodchenkov Act (RADA), the head of the US Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, told Reuters on Friday.

The RADA bill was signed into American law in November 2020 and empowers US prosecutors to seek fines of up to $1 million (€878,000), as well as jail terms of up to 10 years, even for non-Americans, if their actions were deemed to have affected the results of competitors from the United States.

The “Rodchenkov” bill was named after the whistleblower who exposed the Russia doping scandal in 2016.

But Russian Olympic Committee chief Stanislav Pozdnyakov hit back, saying that he had “serious questions” over the validity of the doping tests taken by Valieva.

“The timings of sample processing raise serious questions,” Pozdnyakov told the RIA Novosti news agency. “It seems like someone held the sample until the end of the team skating tournament,” he added.

jsi, rc/fb (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Beijing 2022: Doping hearing to decide Russian skater’s fate
Source: Pinoy Pop News