The test result was based on a sample Valieva provided Dec. 25. It wasn’t known until this week, after Valieva had helped her Russian Olympic Committee win a gold medal at the Olympic figure skating team event.
Valieva was immediately suspended from competition after the disclosure, but the Russian Anti-Doping Agency rescinded that suspension. This decision is currently being appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It will meet on Sunday, and announce its verdict on Monday. Tuesday is the start of the Beijing Games’ women’s figure skating single event. Valieva is the gold-medal favorite.
On Friday, I had the pleasure of meeting Adam Rippon, a former Olympic figure skater. We had previously set up an interview for a story about skating that I was writing.
Rippon was awarded a bronze medal in team events at the 2018 Winter Games. Rippon is at the Olympics to coach Mariah Bell who won the U.S. women’s individual event. Figure Skating Championships took place last month.
While we discussed many topics, the conversation about the scandal was inevitable as news swirled around Beijing’s skating world.
Tom Goldman: Monday saw Kamila Valieva become the first female Olympic skater to land a quad, or quad-rotation jump. Her team may lose the gold medal because of her positive drug test. What does this mean for her performance, beyond the possibility of reshuffling the final standings?
Former Olympic figure skating champion Adam Rippon: We want to celebrate the Olympics as a sport and people who love it. That’s amazing. It was amazing to see Kamila Valieva be able skate in the team competition. Because I was so amazed by what she was doing, I was the first to stand up for every program she did. They destroyed that. They destroyed it for her and all of us who were so excited about this amazing talent.
Who are they?
She is surrounded by adults. Valieva is 15. She is 15. She is a minor. She was completely ignored by her parents.
[Eteri Tutberidze, a successful coach, is the adult most directly relevant to Valieva’s career. There is no evidence or public allegation that Tutberidze was involved in Valieva’s positive drug screen. According to reports, Valieva is the latest of a series of teenager champions who have come out of Tutberidze camp. She and her quad-landing teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova are also medal favorites in Beijing. Many champions who reach their peak during their teens then quit after suffering injuries or from overtraining. ]
The ladies’ individual competition in Beijing will be won by Valieva, Trusova, and Shcherbakova. How will this affect the atmosphere at the upcoming event now that one of them is suspected of being a drug test subject?
It creates a cloud that covers the entire event. It is a cloud. It is impossible to think about this event without thinking of the doping scandal. It’s a shame.
What if CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, rules against Valieva and she is banned from all the Games?
No. It wouldn’t. It asks everything. It is known that Valieva is one of three skaters who hail from the same camp. There have been no positive tests for the other skaters. It questions everything. Nobody will see the event through rose-colored glasses.
[Valieva and Trusova separated themselves in women’s individual figure skating using their quad jumps. Trimetazidine is a drug that Valieva uses to aid endurance. This could allow a skater to stay strong and be able to take on challenging jumps in a long program. However, it isn’t clear if the drug enhances performance. ]
Does this event interrupt the natural progression of quad jumping in ladies figure skaters, which has lag behind the men’s, because there is a connection between the substance used and the Russian teenager’s success jumping?
No. Because it is so inspiring to see a woman do quadruple jumping, I believe that has motivated many women to work on it. Urgently. All over the globe, there are girls who say, “OK, when my time comes, I want to be capable of doing a triple-axel jump and a quadruple leap.” Because they don’t place a limit on what is possible, I believe that anything is possible.
