First competition since the Olympics
Child prodigy Valiyeva is silent on doping issues
10/23/2022 2:42 p.m
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency has already announced that the results of the doping investigation against Kamila Valieva will not be published. At her first start since the Beijing Winter Games, the 16-year-old, who tested positive before the Olympics, says nothing on this subject.
After her successful athletic comeback at a national competition in Moscow, European figure skating champion Kamila Valiyeva left questions about the doping procedure against her unanswered and only commented on her performance on the ice. “It was clear that I would not say anything on this subject. I was very satisfied with my competition, it’s cool that I’m back on the ice. I was full of adrenaline again, that was a good feeling,” said the 16-year-old after her performance.
During the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, a urine sample taken by Valiyeva at the Russian championships in mid-December last year tested positive for the banned drug trimetazidine. However, since the result was not finally evaluated until after the Olympic decision in the team competition, the medals in this discipline have not been awarded to this day, the Russian team had won.
It is currently completely open when the award ceremony that was canceled in the Chinese capital can be made up for. Because the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA had already announced on Friday that it would not make the results of its internal investigations into the “Causa Valiyeva” public. She justified this behavior with the age of Valiyeva, who was only 15 at the time and was considered a “protected person” at the time.
In Beijing, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS had allowed Valiyeva to take part in the individual Olympic competition, regardless of the ongoing proceedings. After a first place after the short program, the exceptional talent collapsed under the immense pressure of the public in the freestyle and fell back to fourth place.
At this year’s World Championships in Montpellier, like all Russian athletes, she was not allowed to start because of the war of aggression in Ukraine. Most recently, Valiewa appeared in Russian ice shows and took part in skating shows in her home country.