Russia's Olympic sport and that power itself are once again at the center of the darkest scene.
It happened with the
state doping
scandal carried out by that country so that its athletes could be noticed as locals at the
2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games
.
It happened with the suspension of Russian athletes in all international tournaments after
Vladimir Putin
's invasion of Ukraine, with bombings, destruction of sports infrastructure and, above all, death everywhere, including Ukrainian athletes in defense of their homeland.
And now it is going through a very hard blow to the “cleanliness” of Russian sport: the four-year suspension of the young skater
Kamila Valieva
, whose positive test for doping shook the
2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
.
The
Court of Arbitration for Sports
(TAS) resolved that the sanction begins to count as of December 25, 2021.
At the end of that year, when Valieva was just 15 years old, she tested positive for
trimetazidine
, a substance that improves blood circulation and that the
World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) included in its list of prohibited products in 2014.
This substance was detected in Valieva's body in a tiny amount and the skater invoked "contamination through forks" shared with her grandfather, treated with trimetazidine after receiving an artificial heart, who took the young athlete to daily training. .
The CAS considered that Valieva “was not able to establish” with sufficiently convincing evidence that he had not “intentionally” doped.
The Russian Kamila Valieva, in action in Beijing 2022. Photo AFP
A political-sports storm immediately broke out.
Because as much as the
International Olympic Committee
always tries to separate politics from sport, countless historical and present examples show the opposite.
The CAS ruling means that the Russians will be stripped of the Olympic team title in figure skating and will never receive the gold medals yet to be awarded, in an unprecedented case.
The United States skaters never received their silver medals and are now about to be declared Olympic champions.
The IOC then decided not to hold the awards ceremony in the Beijing test, in which Valieva was the figure, hours before her positive was revealed.
“
War was declared on Russian sport
and, according to what we see, all means are good,” denounced the Russian Olympic Committee.
"We disagre.
This is, of course, a political decision,” Kremlin
spokesman Dimitri Peskov
told Russian press agencies .
From the American Olympic and Paralympic Committee it was taken as a victory.
“Today is a day we have been eagerly awaiting for two years, as it is a significant victory not only for Team USA athletes but also for
athletes around the world who practice fair play and advocate for clean sport
,” said Sarah Hirshland, executive director of that entity.
WADA welcomed the four-year suspension imposed on Valieva.
“
Child doping is unforgivable.
"Doctors, coaches or other support personnel who are found to have provided performance-enhancing substances to minors must face the full force of the World Anti-Doping Code," the entity explained in a statement in which it recalled that it was the one that took the appeal to the TAS “in the interest of justice for athletes and clean sport.”
The step by step of the case
Kamila Valieva was a figure in Beijing 2022.APF Photo
At those 2022 Games, Valieva had already won Olympic team gold and, because the case was unresolved, she was able to continue competing and was fourth in the individual final.
At that time, the CAS had to make a first decision on the case, upon receiving appeals from the IOC, WADA and the International Skating Federation against RUSADA, which suspended the skater.
The CAS allowed her to continue in the competition, considering that preventing her participation would cause “irreparable harm” to a protected person for being under 16 years of age.
After the Games, RUSADA acquitted the athlete and Putin himself received her in the Kremlin and told her: “With your work you brought sport to the level of true art.
Such perfection cannot be achieved dishonestly with the help of additional substances.
“We know very well that these additional substances are not necessary in figure skating.”
The case is not over, since Valieva has 30 days to appeal the sanction before a Swiss Federal Court.
The International Figure Skating Union accepted the ruling and indicated that it will rule on the consequences this Tuesday.
And the International Olympic Committee?
He did not react this Monday, when he is responsible for distributing the medals.
And its Executive Committee will meet only in March.
H.S.