Valiyeva doping case
Katarina Witt attacks the Russian team
2/11/2022, 8:38 am
Kamila Valiyeva impresses at the Olympic team figure skating competition. Soon after, however, it is no longer about athletic performance, but about doping offences. Figure skating legend Katarina Witt defends the Russian but attacks the team.
The German figure skating legend Katarina Witt is defending the Russian Olympic champion Kamila Valiyeva, who tested positive for the stimulant trimetazidine, and is targeting the 15-year-old team. “If anything, the responsible adults should be locked out of sport forever! What they may have expected of you cannot be beaten in terms of inhumanity and makes my sportsman’s heart cry,” Witt wrote on Facebook.
“As an athlete, you follow the advice of those you trust and, in this case, always first of all the coaching and medical team,” said the 1984 and 1988 Olympic champion: “This young girl and child prodigy who is mesmerizing the whole world with her athleticism and grace, is a minor at 15 and she is not at fault here.”
The International Testing Agency ITA has meanwhile announced that Valiyeva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. The A sample is from December 25, but Valiyeva took part in the team competition and won gold with the Russian team. The CAS Court of Justice will decide whether she can take part in the individual competition next week. The CAS does not decide on the awarding of medals in the team.
“This scandal” is a dramatic turning point for the “young and promising career,” said Witt, and she “fervently hopes that enough people” are at Valiyeva’s “side and protect her so that she doesn’t break.” Valiewa had impressed in Beijing with several quadruple jumps. For Witt, she remains “a radiant comet” that has “shot into orbit around the international skating world.” “Cheer up Kamila, your Katarina,” wrote Witt.
The Russian team participates in Beijing under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), flag and national anthem are banned as at the Tokyo 2021 Summer Games. However, Russian athletes are not generally banned. They may participate as “neutral athletes” under certain conditions. Russia was banned from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi because of the massive doping scandal.