2022 Winter Olympics Scandal: Can Russia Replace Valieva After Suspension?
What happened?
There was a scandal at the Beijing Olympics. Two days after the victory of the Russian skaters in the team tournament, the official awards were delayed. As a result, it was postponed, and on the afternoon of February 9, insiders rained down:
- The award has been postponed due to the legal connection between the IOC and the ISU.
- Some of the Russian figure skaters passed a positive test for prohibited ones. substance.
- The substance is drugs. And a dubious sample from Kamila Valieva.
- The substance is not a drug, the medical drug Trimetazidine. And he’s banned.
What drug was found in Valieva? Russia has already had such a case at the Olympics
Will Valiyeva be suspended?
Reading WADA code:
A sufficient finding of an anti-doping rule violation is any of the following:
- The presence of a Prohibited Substance in an A Sample (its metabolites or markers) when the Athlete is not authorized to provide an analysis of the B Sample and it is not analyzed.
- When a “B” sample is analyzed and found to contain a prohibited substance (its metabolites or markers), so is the “A” sample.
- When the “A” sample and the “B” sample meet in two parts and analyze the presence of a certain substance (its metabolites or markers), similar to the first part of the divided sample.
We read further:
“An anti-doping rule violation by an Athlete or other Person to Person may be one or more of the following Consequences:
- Disqualification – suspension for an anti-doping rule violation of the Athlete or other Person from participation in any Competition or other activity for a specified period, or denial of a reduction in funding as provided in Article 10.14;
- Provisional Suspension – preventing an Athlete or other Person from being temporarily concentrated in a Competition or activity pending a final decision at a hearing held pursuant to Article 8
Translation from bureaucratic into common language: disqualification is a specific punishment for delivered violation. That is, the athlete is banned from participating in any starts.
Provisional Suspension – Athlete suspended for perioduntil proven guilty or innocent. When WADA detects an A sample and is conditionally suspected of an anti-doping rule violation, the athlete will automatically temporarily is removed. It is important that this should be spoken.
That is, before the infection, MOKila Valiyeva is in a normal status.. So far, there are only insiders and the media. That is, she is not a suspended athlete. The IOC is expected to release a version of its morning on 10 February.
Neither an athlete who has been subject to a disqualification or provisional suspension shall be eligible to participate in any matches. But in rare cases, a mismatch between the results of two samples may work. After opening the “A” sample, the “B” sample is opened. If the B Sample fails to provide an A Sample analysis, the Athlete will be allowed to compete in the upcoming Competition.
Photo: Getty Images
And now what? Can Valieva be replaced?
The document of the Olympic Committee on the late replacement of an athlete is included. This is indicated in Late Athlete Replacement (LAR) Policy. Here are the replacement rules:
“By the deadline for submitting entries to participate in competitions, if there are medical conditions that impede the development of an athlete, prior to an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV)a positive test for COVID-19, isolation or quarantine due to COVID-19 infection, or other exceptional significance, the IOC, after allocating significant significance with the consumer by IF and IOC experts (when the IOC deems it a priority), may exclude the permanent replacement of an athlete by another athlete only in the same sport, discipline and event.”
Photo: Late Athlete Replacement Policy (LAR)
The critical part: Precisely prior to an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV). In the case of Valieva, there is no certainty yet. As long as there is no official disqualification from CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), the athlete remains suspended and does not qualify under the rules of the LAR. Accordingly, it cannot be replaced.
Suspended status can be remembered all the time. At the 2018 Olympics, traces of meldonium were found in the doping test of curler Alexander Krushelnitsky. It happened on February 18, after receiving a bronze medal, and he received a disqualification only in December. Until that time, Krushelnitsky was temporarily suspended.
It is possible to have time to make a replacement only in the event of an early decision by CAS: guilty or innocent. The problem is that the standard CAS procedure is stretched in time: this is the expectation and the time that the court takes to make a decision. It is possible that in the case of Valieva, age (not under 16), a small dose of the drug, and that trimetazidine does not occur on sports results will play a key role. .
If Valieva is then nevertheless temporarily suspended, disqualified, for example, tomorrow (which is very unlikely), then the replacement algorithm is activated.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Who can replace Valieva?
The Russian national team had two athletes in the status of substitutes. The first is Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. The second is Maya Khromykh. The problem is that both athletes are in Russia. Tuktamyshev in St. Petersburg, Khromykh in Moscow.
According to LAR rules, replacement under normal figure skating conditions must be done one hour before the draw. The deadline for women is February 13 at 9:30 am Beijing time.
Photo: LAR rules
Moreover, the need to hurry is also due to the requirement of the IOC: “Please note that the LAR must be completed by the end of the deadline. Please allow sufficient time as a LARGE file may take up to 24 hours to process.”
Can ROC make a replacement in time?
To declare in time really. The problem is that the athlete does not teleport to Beijing. Short program for women – February 15. That is 5 days.
Before flying to the Games, each athlete must pass two PCR tests at intervals of 24 hours (or four if they have recently been ill). Perhaps the rules will somehow be changed, but very unlikely. Also, upon arrival in China, athletes observe quarantine until the result of the test made at the Beijing airport is received.
Possibly, two sportswomen represent the Russian national team in women’s singles. Although we all hoped that in the end Kamila Valieva would be found not guilty. An IOC statement on the subject is expected on Thursday at 8 am.