When the Russian Olympic Committee [RUSADA] was banned by World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA] Aug. 7, 2016 after an exhaustive investigation of Russian athlete blood samples at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, no one imagined a deal would be struck to allow Russian athletes to compete under the Russian Olympic Committee. Russia was allowed to compete in the 2018 South Korean PyeonChang Winter as RUSADA knows the extent of the doping scandal at the Sochi Winter Games. International Olympic Committee [IOC] put down the hammer knowing the extent of the Russian doping scandal and denials from the Russian Olympic Committee. So when the IOC allowed Russian athletes to compete under the ROC, it was a big concession, considering the extent of 2014 doping scandal going right from top-to-bottom of Russia’s sports hierarchy.
So when the world’s top women’s figure skater15-year-old Kamila Valieva was found to have used the banned substance trimetazidine [TMZ], a powerful oxygen-boosting heart medication, the case should have been closed, banning Valieva from the Beijing Winter Games. But with all legal matters, there’s a murky line between the rules and how they’re applied to under-aged minors like Valieva. At a meeting of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency [RUSADA] Feb. 9, Russia’s team and Valieva lifted a provisional suspension saying that the use of TMZ was accidental. When the Court of Arbitration for Sport decided Dec. 25 to not ban Valieva for one bad test, they let her compete in the Beijing Games. U.S. Anti-Doping Chief Travis Tygart accepted the Russian Olympic Committee explanation that she accidental ingested her grandfather’s heart medication, a feeble explanation at best.
When the WADA released the results of Valieva’s urine sample taken Dec. 25, it showed not only TMZ but several other legal substances, including Supradyn [multivitamin], L-carnaitine [a nutritional heart supplement] and Hypoxen, an oxygen-boosting medication not yet banned by WADA or the IOC. So when the Russian Olympic Committee and Valieva argued it was accidental contact with TMZ it made absolutely no sense. How does grandpa’s heart medication wind up in Valieva’s cereal or fruit punch? Valieva’s mother testified at her hearing that she took Hypoxen for an irregular “hear variations,” according to a WADA document. Kamila never said she used TMZ, the oxygen-boosting Performance Enhancing Drug [PED] banned by WADA and the IOC since 2014. “The initial excuse,” Tygart said, “seems to be seriously undermined,” by the use of other oxygen-boosting substances.
Tygart was well aware of Valieva’s urine sample, testing 200 times the level of TMZ found in athletes making an accidental contamination excuse. But when looking at all three other substances found in Valieva’s drug sample, there’s no doubt that her Russian doctors, coaches or trainers were recommending PEDs to maximize her chances in competition. When the IOC met to decide whether to allow Valieva to compete for a gold another gold medal in the individual skating events Sunday, Feb. 13, they heard arguments about Valieva being an under-aged minor, someone not fully responsible for her actions. Whether that’s true or not, Tygart concluded that the RUDADA committee’s arguments to allow Valieva to compete were not valid. Whatever happened, Valieva, minor or not, had 200 times the amount of TMZ, a known banned PED in her Dec. 25 sample, something undeniable.
WADA and the IOC had no problem banning the world’s top 100-meter sprinter 20-year-old Sha’Carri Richardson from competing in the 2021 Toyko Summer Olympics for testing positive for cannabis. When it comes to minors, there’s zero logic the Court of Arbitration for Sports used in saying minors are immune to the same rules as adults. Anyone competing for the same medals in the Olympic Games must adhere to the same anti-doping rules. When it comes to the 2016 ban, there should be no excuses for any athlete, whatever age, using PEDs in competition. Russia was banned in 2016 because the RUSADA refused to cooperate with the ICO’s probe of the anti-doping violations by Russian athletes. Meeting Sunday, Feb. 13, the IOC made a whopping mistake allowing Valieva to compete in more events, but, more importantly, keep her gold medal for the RUSADA team all-around.
Faced with outrage by all Olympians and their Olympic committees, the IOC must meet agains now that more information is out about the extent to which Valieva or her team sought to give herself a competitive edge. Finding not one, but two additional nutritional produces and one drug used to boost heart oxygenation, it was no fluke, or grandpa’s medication, that showed up in Valieva’s urine sample. For the integrity of all competitors and the Games itself, Valieva must be stripped of her medals and banned from figure skating for the appropriate period. All of the RUSADA and Valieva family excuses make zero sense. Grandpa’s medication didn’t end up in Valieva’s orange juice. “The denial, Tygart said, “is the common currency of the guilty and the innocent . . . “ Time for WADA, the IOC and CAS to get it right and strip Valieva of her medals and ban her from the Games.
