Beijing Winter Olympics: Kremlin backs teen skater after positive drug test

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The Kremlin has today thrown its backing behind Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva after it was revealed she failed a drugs test but was cleared by Moscow to continue competing at the Beijing Olympics. 

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, urged Valieva – who has already won one gold in Beijing and will compete again on February 15 – to ‘walk proudly, perform and win’, and that the Russian government ‘infinitely and completely’ supports her.

Peskov said he is ‘convinced’ Valieva’s positive test for banned substance TMZ – an angina medication which boosts blood flow to the heart and stabilises blood pressure – is the result of a ‘misunderstanding’. 

But, he added, independent authorities are now reviewing the decision to let her continue competing and urged everyone to wait for the results of the case.

‘Let’s wait for the end of the trial and for the IOC to make its decision public. For now we all support Valieva and wish her good luck,’ he said.

The 15-year-old Russian skating prodigy’s Olympic dreams have been cast into doubt after it was revealed that she tested positive for drug trimetazidine on February 8, based on a sample collected on December 25 during an event in St Petersburg.

Russia’s state anti-doping agency RUSAD had collected the sample and sent it to a World Anti-Doping Agency lab in Sweden, which reported the result a day after Valieva won gold in the team skating event.

The positive test triggered an automatic suspension by RUSAD, but the agency overturned the ban on February 9 after Valieva appealed – clearing her to continue in the competition. The reasons for its decision have not yet been made public.

The International Olympic Committee has now appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and is urging judges to issue a ruling ahead of the women’s singles figure skating event next Tuesday.

The court will decide whether or not to reinstate the suspension. World skating authorities will decide whether or not the team gold medal will be allowed to stand, in a process that could take months to complete.   

The International Testing Agency, which is leading the Court of Arbitration appeal on behalf of the IOC, revealed on Friday that Valieva is at the heart of the case.

It said it took the decision after her named was leaked to the media. It had previously kept her identity hidden under anti-doping rules because she is a minor. 

Russia is already under heavy sanction by Olympic organisers after it was revealed in 2016 that the country had been running a state-sponsored doping programme since at least 2011 covering the ‘vast majority’ of summer and winter Olympic sports.

Officially, Russia is banned from competing at the Olympics: Its athletes have to take part as the ‘Russian Olympic Committee’, must wear a neutral flag on their uniforms, and cannot play their anthem at medal ceremonies if they win gold. 

The World Anti-Doping Agency first banned Russia from competition in 2015, controversially reversed the decision in 2018, and then reinstated it for a period of four years beginning in 2019. 

In 2020 it was reduced to two years after a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Dozens of Russian athletes were also stripped of medals and handed ‘lifetime’ bans from sport as a result of the scandal – most of which have since been overturned, also by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Russia now holds the dubious record of having the most athletes caught doping at the Olympics of any country in the world, at 150.

Russia has yet to explain on what grounds they decided to lift its suspension of their teenage skating prodigy.

Valieva took to the rink for practice on Friday, which Russian officials said went ‘worse than usual’ because she is in ‘a bad mood’ over the doping case.

Olga Yermolina, spokeswoman for the Russian Figure Skating Federation, said: ‘She is nervous, which is understandable.

‘She is not in an information vacuum [over the doping allegations]. 

‘Proceedings may take several months, and the team medals will be awarded after the [hearing on her case]. Kamilla is in a bad mood.’

Yermolina even went so far as to suggest some kind of foul play by anti-doping authorities in revealing the positive result in the midst of competition.

‘Do you know when the test was taken? Why do you think it was published right now, compare these dates and draw your own conclusions,’ she said.

‘I cannot comment directly and tell you clearly, but just compare the dates and you will understand what is at stake, why this is happening.’

Stanislav Pozdnyakov, president of the Russian Olympic Committee, added: ‘I have serious questions about the time that passed between 25 December, when the sample was submitted in St Petersburg, and 8 February, when it was made public.

‘According to the international standards for WADA laboratories, the deadline for uploading the A sample is 20 days from the receipt of the sample in the laboratory.

‘The fact that it took almost a month to get from St Petersburg to Stockholm looks very strange.

‘This raises very serious questions for me, and it looks very much like someone was holding the sample until after the figure skating team competition was over.’

A spokesperson for the International Testing Agency said: ‘Under the World Anti-Doping Code, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Skating Union (ISU), RUSADA and the IOC have a right to appeal the decision to lift the provisional suspension before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

‘The IOC will exercise its right to appeal and not to wait for the reasoned decision by RUSADA, because a decision is needed before the next competition the athlete is due to take part (in Women Single Skating on 15 February).

‘Following the delegation of the IOC’s anti-doping program in relation to the Olympic Games to the ITA, the ITA will lead the appeal before CAS on behalf of the IOC.’ 

It remained unclear if Russia would still be awarded the gold meal as the ITA said the final decision would fall to the International Skating Union, the sport’s governing body. 

The initial news of the doping scandal broke late Tuesday night in Beijing, where Valieva was part of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) ensemble that won the figure skating team event on Monday coming ahead of the United States and Japan.

The teenager delivered one of the highlights of the Beijing Games so far when she landed the first quadruple jumps by a woman in Olympic competition. She was one of four ROC skaters who did not appear at their practice sessions on Wednesday. 

According to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, TMZ can be used by athletes to improve their performance, especially in endurance sports. It has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of prohibited substances since January 2014.

Former Russian pairs skater Tatiana Volosozhar, who won two gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, offered words of support for Valieva on social media, calling for the use of the Russian hashtag #Iwillneverbelieve to send the teenager support.

Her post was ‘liked’ on Instagram by Valieva herself.

Prominent journalist Vasily Konov, deputy general producer at Russian sports channel Match-TV, said without citing sources that the sample in question had been taken two months ago.

‘The drug trimetazidine does not help an athlete in any way. At all. It was found in one single sample in December. A minuscule amount. Nothing in her samples before or since,’ he wrote on social media.

‘There is no doping in the conventional sense. No! This cardiac drug has no impact on … performance. Now leave Kamila in peace.’

Russia has acknowledged some shortcomings in its implementation of anti-doping rules but denies running a state-sponsored doping program.

Its athletes are competing at the Beijing Games without their flag and national anthem, because of sanctions against Russia for previous violations. 

The Russian figure skaters who won the team event at the Beijing Olympics on Monday have still not received their gold medals, with media reports on Wednesday saying one had returned a positive drug test. 

Under Olympic rules, performance-enhancing drugs attract a different penalty to those for recreational use. 

The International Olympic Committee had delayed the medal ceremony, which had been due to take place on Tuesday night, citing a ‘legal issue’.

Earlier, the Inside The Games website had reported that the issue refers to a positive drugs test and said the international doping authorities were involved.  

But representatives for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) have strongly denied any problems with drug tests on its skaters before Beijing.    

The IOC, International Skating Union and the international agency in charge of drugs testing during the Games all declined to comment on media reports that the delay was caused by a positive drug test.

The Russian Sports Ministry said it was premature to comment on media reports about the reason for the postponement. 

Questions were raised after four Russian skaters, including Valieva, did not attend training on Wednesday. 

The medal ceremony had initially been moved to Tuesday evening at 9pm local time from Monday before being postponed indefinitely. 

‘A situation arose at short notice that requires legal consultation,’ International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson Mark Adams said.

‘You can bet your bottom dollar we are doing everything that this situation can be resolved as soon as possible. I cannot give you any more details but we will do our utmost.’

Adams said the ceremony would take place as soon as possible. 

Valieva was one of the four ROC athletes, along with pairs dancers Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov, and Mark Kondratiuk, who did not appear at their practice sessions on Wednesday. It was unclear at the time why.

Kondratiuk also represented the ROC team and competed in Tuesday’s individual short program. He advanced to the finals scheduled on Thursday.

In the competition, Valieva scored 178.92 points, taking the top prize in the women’s free skate event, which closed the team competition.

Team ROC ended the team competition with a total of 74 points to take the gold. 

The ROC team featured women’s singles skater Valieva, Mark Kondratyuk in the men’s, Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov in the pairs, and Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov in the ice dance.  

The only ROC skaters to train were team ice dancers Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov.  

But Russian Figure Skating Federation spokesperson Olga Yermolina told the country’s official state news agency TASS that the organization is ‘waiting for official information on this issue’.  

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), as part of a policy change last year, reduced its bans for recreational drugs so that athletes who test positive out of competition would be banned for one to three months instead of two years.

According to WADA, for a substance to be on its prohibited list it must meet any two of the following criteria: performance enhancement, danger to an athlete´s health, and a violation of the spirit of sport.

Calls to remove marijuana from WADA’s list of in-competition banned substances have become more frequent, and many athletes and experts have openly advocated for legalization.

Tatyana Tarasova, one of Russia’s most successful coaches and national figure skating team adviser, rejected claims that a problem with a drugs test had caused the problems. 

‘This cannot be. They can nod at us, but we are all clean,’ she said.    

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier they would wait for official statements before commenting.

‘As of now, we heard no official statements and let us judge based on them, because we are currently based on media reports only,’ Peskov told a daily news briefing.

‘We should either wait for explanations from sports officials, including our sports officials, or from the IOC.’

If any athlete and team were disqualified, an appeal would likely follow to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Canada placed fourth and would be in line to be upgraded. 

Technically, Russia is banned from competing in international sporting events until December 2022 over mass doping dating back to the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. 

But Russian athletes are still able to compete but only as neutral athletes or ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’ (OAR) and represent the ROC to comply with those sanctions.

An initial punishment lasting for four years was imposed on Russia in 2020 by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which saw them barred from events including the Tokyo Games and Paralympics as well as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The ban was then reduced to two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), a move which was greeted with a fierce backlash.

It was unanimously found by CAS that Russia had not been in compliance with anti-doping rules and regulations. 

The panel said it ‘considered matters of proportionality and, in particular, the need to effect cultural change and encourage the next generation of Russian athletes to participate in clean international sport.’

The ruling means that the phrase ‘neutral athlete’ must be displayed prominently on uniforms where the word ‘Russia’ also appears. The period of the ban will end in December 2022. 

The International Skating Union (ISU) did not provide any details on the reason for the delay other than also citing ‘legal consultations,’ in an emailed response to Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from the Russian Olympic Committee or the International Testing Agency (ITA), which is in charge of doping controls during the Olympics.

Russia has been banned from competing as a country in athletics since 2015. They were initially declared non-compliant in November of that year after widespread corruption was alleged.

A report, which was commissioned by WADA and carried out by lawyer Professor Richard McLaren, pointed towards state-sponsored doping in track and field athletics.

Further findings from another report in 2016 stated that the doping program was operated across a four-year period, stretching across the ‘vast majority’ of sports at the summer and winter Olympics.

But, in 2018, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) was reinstated as being compliant after the agency said they would release information from a Moscow-based laboratory taken from between January 2012 and August 2015.

It was discovered, however, that positive findings featuring in a version of the data previously provided by a whistleblower in 2017 were missing from the 2019 version of the files. Unsurprisingly, this triggered the beginning of a fresh inquiry.

An in-depth review was then carried out into the glaring inconsistencies and WADA’s executive committee unanimously decided to hit Russia with the ban. 

After the decision was made, former WADA president Sir Craig Reedie highlighted the ‘determination to act resolutely’.

‘For too long, Russian doping has detracted from clean sport,’ Reedie said. ‘The blatant breach by the Russian authorities of RUSADA’s reinstatement conditions demanded a robust response. This is exactly what has been delivered.

‘Russia was afforded every opportunity to get its house in order and re-join the global anti-doping community for the good of its athletes and of the integrity of sport, but it chose instead to continue in its stance of deception and denial.’