Figure Skating Thread (Olympic Spoilers/Discussion starting at post #16)

[Doug1233]

A 1-2-3 ROC podium is going to be such a bad look.

 

[Doug1233]

Crazy that Vincent Zhou gets banned for testing positive for COVID, and yet Valieva is allowed to skate for testing positive for a PED.

I simply cannot understand this ruling.

 

[RichardL]

Crazy that Vincent Zhou gets banned for testing positive for COVID, and yet Valieva is allowed to skate for testing positive for a PED.

I simply cannot understand this ruling.

EXACTLY THIS. I still don’t understand how there couldn’t have been some kind of accommodation for an asymptomatic COVID case to be able to skate who was already on site vs. needing to travel, and it’s even more frustrating now that this has happened with Valieva.

 

[cats]

Well, they’re cleverly avoiding it being a look by cancelling any kind of podium presentation. /s

I find it interesting that WADA makes Valieva a protected person. She’s not protected from drugs, bad coaches, or the ire/disdain/pity of the world. There is also a failure in the doping world and the broader athlete well-being world to look at these autocratic coaches and state sponsored doping schemes with an athlete focused eye. The rules say that the athletes accept responsibility for what they take, no matter what.

I don’t want to pretend I know shit about WADA. I don’t. But it seems to me that if a “protected person” fails a test, the people who were supposed to be protecting her need automatic consequences too. Same goes for the people and structures that are apparently denying athletes the ability to be individually responsible for what they take.

 

[rlayt]

Sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson sees double standard in handling of Kamila Valieva case

Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson sees double standard in handling of Kamila Valieva case

Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson questioned why Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was allowed to continue competing at the Beijing Games amid a doping charge on Monday, months after a positive test for cannabis derailed her own Olympic dreams.

amp.cnn.com

 

[irichluck21]

She needs to get over it.

There is no double standard at all.

She is a grown adult, fully understood that marijuana was on the banned list, and she herself made the decision to partake in using the banned substance.
Valieva at 15 years old most likely had no clue she was being given a banned substance likely from her coaches.

 

[irichluck21]

“Can we get a solid answer on the difference of (Valieva’s) situation and mines?” Richardson wrote on Twitter on Monday. “My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady.”

Richardson went on to question how Valieva’s positive result had come to light only during the Games even though she was tested in December and also added that in her own case, cannabis wasn’t even a performance-enhancing drug.

1. Someone needs to explain to her the difference since she can’t see it and is trying to make it about race.
2. In her opinion cannabis is NOT a performance enhancing drug, but it IS performance enhancing as marijuana can help to calm someone down and alleviate stress. She literally admitted that she needed to smoke it to get calm before her race due to the anxiety surrounding her mother’s death. That is why it is still banned and also why there is much debate on whether it is or isn’t. I personally feel marijuana is performance enhancing.

 

[JDB]

I’m pleased this is happening just to put the NBC commentators in their place. They were gonna spend the entire women’s event gushing over Team Tutberidze. Now they have to confront the coaches’ poor training practices, all of which were well known before doping entered the conversation. This is the same harmful media framing NBC did with gymnastics.

 

[irichluck21]

I’m pleased this is happening just to put the NBC commentators in their place

They are definitely none to please with the decision to let her compete and both Johnny and Tara have made their opinions known loud and clear.

 

[Rich]

maybe they should increase the minimum age of competition so the athletes would be responsible for anything they test for

 

[makam]

She could save some face by suddenly coming down with Covid. The irreparable harm done to her by not letting her compete, how about the irreparable harm done to her competitors who didn’t take drugs to improve their blood flow/oxygen. And god knows what else they’ve fed her over the last few years.

I know I said up there that the other skaters should have a “stick it” moment and refuse to compete, but man, even if only Japan and the US did that, that would be a huge statement. And they could even make it about how they “just can’t support child abuse” or something.

 

[irichluck21]

I do think that it is completely unfair though to ask clean athletes to forgo their Olympic experience and protest because the CAS didn’t do their job. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for many athletes.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I agree, she’s not looking very ‘protected’ from where I’m standing. And there have to be consequences for someone, be it the athlete or a coach, because otherwise it’s a green light to pump the kids with whatever shit you like.

 

[Bob]

I feel this is a real danger. Green light to dope up under 16s as much as you like. I am absolutely gutted for the other skaters who may lose a medal, win the wrong medal or who may lose a medal ceremony. How dare they take away that from the other clean skaters. That is terrible.

People are now rightly questioning how she is so far the best in the world. You really have to wonder.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

I was suspicious of her consistency this whole season up until Europeans when she fell.

 

[RedBirdie]

Not just her, but the entire Russian ladies FS system. We all know this isn’t an isolated incident.

 

[Doug1233]

Oh for sure. They were all taking it. Valieva probably just took a dose too close to her test.

 

[Doug1233]

The difference is she is an American adult and Valieva is a Russian child.

That’s it.

 

[irichluck21]

The difference is she is an American adult and Valieva is a Russian child.

That’s it.

Also, one knowingly ingested a banned substance and knew it was banned but did it anyway, the other it is unknown if the athlete knowingly ingested a banned substance or was manipulated into taking it by her coaching team.

 

[rlayt]

It’s a slippery slope to allow Valieva to compete. It’s going to muddy the waters. It’s going to open the doors for other cheaters to compete. Not Richardson but others. The Olympic committee should refuse to award medals.