Will skate? Won’t skate? The Olympic destiny of Kamila Valieva, favorite for gold in Beijing but tested positive for a banned substance, is now suspended from a decision by the Sports Court (CAS) expected before the start of her individual competition on Tuesday.
At 15, Valieva finds herself caught in the middle of a resounding doping affair, against the backdrop of the conflict between the Russian authorities, since the scandal of the state doping system organized in particular for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. and international sports bodies.
Undefeated so far for her first winter in seniors, Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine during a test carried out on December 25 during the Russian Championships by the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada), announced Friday in a communicated the ITA, the body in charge of doping controls during the Olympics.
Trimetazidine, used to relieve angina pectoris, has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) since 2014 because it improves blood circulation.
Notified of the positive test on Tuesday – the day after the victory of the Russian team under neutral flag in the team competition in Beijing in which it participated – the Russian anti-doping agency suspended Valieva “provisionally with immediate effect”, explains the ITA in a long press release detailing the course of events.
This provisional suspension then deprived the young skater of participating in any competition, JO-2022 included.
But “the athlete appealed to the Rusada anti-doping commission” on Wednesday and “in the evening”, the Russian body “decided to lift the provisional suspension of the athlete, thus allowing him to continue to participate in the Olympics” , continues the ITA.
Moscow vs World Sport
Nevertheless, “because a decision is necessary before” the start of the individual competition, scheduled for Tuesday February 15 and Thursday February 17, “the IOC will exercise its right to appeal without waiting for Rusada’s reasoned decision”, announces the ITA.
The International Skating Federation (ISU) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) joined in the wake of the IOC’s appeal, rekindling the fault lines between Russian sport and international sports bodies, regularly portrayed by Moscow as an instrument of Western domination.
The Kremlin unsurprisingly lent its support to Valieva: “We fully, infinitely support our Kamila Valieva and we call on everyone to support her! said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “We say to Kamila: + Do not hide your face! You are Russian […], compete and win! »
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) questioned the conditions of the analysis, carried out in Stockholm, the Moscow laboratory having lost its approval within the framework of the sanctions against the Russian anti-doping agency, and in particular on the abnormal delays six weeks long, between the sample and the notification of the result.
“The sample analysis times raise serious questions,” noted ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov, for whom “someone held the sample until the end of the team skating competition”.
The young age of the skater – under 16 – makes her a “protected person”, which implies confidentiality around her control, potentially lightened sanctions, and the need to investigate the role of those around her, according to WADA regulations.
Valieva is the latest successful incarnation of Eteri Tutberidze’s Moscow champion factory.
The Russian teenager has had a string of successes this winter, including the European Championships in mid-January and the Olympic team title on Monday. She took the opportunity to sign the very first women’s quadruple jumps in Olympic history.
Tutberidze School
Valieva trained normally on Friday, first in the early morning making a brief appearance on the Olympic ice before the announcement of her positive test. At midday, she returned to train this time on the training rink to perform her free program on Ravel’s Bolero, falling twice. At the end of this session, she crossed the mixed zone where journalists were waiting for her without stopping, hiding her face behind her sweatshirt.
Beyond her personal case, Valieva’s positive control has thrown the Tutberidze school into trouble, of which she is only one of the many winning faces of recent years.
The other two Russian skaters entered in the Beijing Games, Anna Shcherbakova, reigning world champion, and Alexandra Trusova, European and world bronze medalist, are also students. All three monopolized the European podium less than a month ago and seem promised to the Olympic podium.
Among the former proteges of the Russian coach, there are also Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva, respectively Olympic champion and Olympic vice-champion in 2018, or Alena Kostornaia, European champion 2020.
It was the postponement of the medal ceremony for the team competition, for “legal” reasons according to the IOC, which was the starting point of this affair.
Regarding this event, the main problem is to determine the consequences of Valieva’s positive test for her team, victorious in front of the United States and Japan, Canada finishing in fourth place.