Source: Sports Weekly
The award ceremony for the Figure Skating Team Championships at the Beijing Winter Olympics, which was supposed to take place on February 8, was postponed for no reason, and no new award date has been announced. The IOC and IU statement was vague about this, saying only that there had been an emergency that required "legal consultations". IOC spokesman Mark Adams confirmed the incident involved "athletes who have already won awards".
On Wednesday, russia's RBC news network took the lead in breaking the news, saying that Vallieva, the number one figure in figure skating of the Russian Olympic team, was found to have trace amounts of trimetazide in the doping test sample last December, trimetazine as an anti-ischemic metabolite, usually used for long-term treatment of angina, and some countries (such as France) also used it to treat tinnitus and dizziness, which is one of the physical enhancement drugs being tested by the World Anti-Doping Organization (WADA), commonly known as banned drugs. The Associated Press and other media have followed up, saying that the Olympic Committee will deprive the Russian Olympic team of the team gold medal, the United States team won the gold medal, the Japanese team silver medal, and the Canadian team became the bronze medalist.
But this has not been confirmed by the IOC and the International Skating Union. At a daily press conference on Thursday, Adams said the incident was still being resolved, "Obviously, we ask and want all the athletes involved in the incident to be patient and understanding, but since this is a legal event that sometimes drags on, I can't say more." For more questions, Adams insisted that "no comment will be made on any speculation."
Although Russia has always held a leading position in the field of women's figure skating, it is the norm to win and sweep various awards. However, Walyeva, who studied under the famous coach Tu Especially Lisze, still surprised the world, she was the first women's singles player to make a four-way jump in an official competition, not only her, but also the other two women's singles stars of the Russian Olympic team, Trusova and Serbakova, who mastered this skill. As a result, the suspicions about Vallieva never stopped, especially since she was able to perform at a young age.
In the speculation of the external network, Vallieva, who was absent from the previous day's public training, appeared in the auxiliary hall of the Capital Gymnasium on Thursday, but refused to be interviewed by the media. The Russian Olympic Committee and all members remained silent on the matter. There have been rumors that Valieva will withdraw directly from the Winter Olympics, but her participation in public training seems to be a silent declaration that will appear in the women's singles arena.
According to the analysis of Yahoo Sports reporter Wetzel, this does not completely prove Valieva's innocence. Since Valieva is not yet 16 years of age, she remains a "protected group" of WADA, and in certain circumstances, protected people are treated differently from regular athletes – "below a certain age or intelligence [they] may not have the mental capacity to understand the prohibited behaviors in the guidelines." ”
In other words, the WADA guidelines protect young athletes who mistakenly take banned drugs because of their youthful ignorance. Therefore, in Wetzel's view, Vallieva is more likely to face penalties than to be disqualified from the Olympic Games, and the scale of punishment is the main problem of the "legal consultation" between the Olympic Committee and the International Skating Federation and the World Anti-Doping Organization. This also means that even if Vallieva does test positive, she will still retain her Olympic qualification. The figure skating team gold medal of the Russian Olympic team will not be affected, and Vallieva will continue to participate in the women's singles competition that will start on February 15.