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Russia’s Kamila Valieva during the team skating event at the Beijing Olympics, February 7, 2022
The beauty of the Olympic Games allows athletes to participate in the competition without any age restrictions. But this is not the case for the anti-doping rules and Russia has made it clear to the organizers of the 2022 Beijing Olympics this Wednesday after the team skating event. Victorious in the competition ahead of the United States and Japan, the Russian Olympic Committee team has not yet received its medal.
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According to the site information Insidethegames, the medal ceremony was postponed due to a legal imbroglio surrounding a Russian athlete’s anti-doping tests. The problem is said to be directly related to Kamila Valieva, who was entered for the women’s event.
A situation that raises questions as the 15-year-old Russian prodigy made an impression by becoming the first woman in the history of her discipline to succeed in a quadruple jump, and twice, at the Olympic Games in China.
Valieva “protected” because minor
However, without specifying or even suggesting a potential positive test of the young woman, her age would make her a “protected person” according to the regulations of the World Anti-Doping Agency. In fact, since she is a minor, Kamila Valieva cannot legally be formally identified under the anti-doping protocols. And this, even if she tested positive (which is not currently the case) for a doping product during the Olympic meeting in Beijing.
“The mandatory public disclosure required in Article 14.3.2 will not be required when the athlete or other person who has been convicted of violating anti-doping rules is a minor, a protected person or a recreational athlete, provides for the world anti-doping code 2021. Any optional public disclosure in a case involving a minor, a protected person or a recreational athlete must be proportionate to the facts and circumstances of the case.”
The American press announces a positive test in Russians
In the same way, and if no causal link has been identified between the two information, the US site USA Today one of the members of the Russian team crowned Olympic champions has tested positive for a banned product after the events in Beijing.
With six Russian skaters involved in the team event: Kamila Valieva in the women’s, Mark Kondratiuk in the men’s, the couple Anastasia Mishina-Alexandr Galliamov and the dancers Victoria Sinitsina-Nikita Katsalapov, that makes few potential suspects. However, neither WADA nor the IOC communicated about such a positive test at the Beijing Olympics.
On Wednesday, only ice dancers trained at Beijing’s Capital Indoor stadium. But the duo consisting of Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov did not respond to questions from journalists present at the scene.