Mr Bach also told a press conference in Beijing that he had no a lot of confidence
in the entourage of Kamila Valieva, notably regretting her coldness and her attitude towards the skater after her competition.
I was very confused yesterday when I watched on TV (the free figure skating program). I saw a performance where we saw the pressure on his shoulders. My career makes me know what the pressure is, but this one was beyond what I can imagine
did he declare.
Watching her break down on the ice, cry and try to finish her program was difficult. In every movement, his body language, you could see the immense stress
continued the boss of the Olympic body. She would surely have preferred to leave the ice and leave it all behind.
.
And how she was received by those around her coming out of the ice… It was freezing, instead of trying to help and comfort her. We felt the distance and interpreting her body language (from her trainer, editor’s note), it was dismissive. How can you be so cold with your athlete?
lamented Bach.
It does not give me confidence in his surroundings, regardless of what may have happened, or will happen in the future, how (is it possible to) treat a 15-year-old underage athlete like that?
he concluded.
Kamila Valieva succumbs to pressure
Photo : Getty Images / Catherine Ivill
Valieva, 15, was overtaken on the ice on Thursday by the case dominating the 2022 Olympics. In the lead after the short program, she completely missed her free program with several falls and fell finally ranked 4th.
She had left the ice in tears, her trainer scolding her for her performance.
She had been provisionally suspended on February 8 by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) for a positive test for trimetazidine, the result of which fell the day after her victory in the Olympic team event with the ROC.
This product, used to relieve angina pectoris, has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) since 2014, because it promotes blood circulation.
If this control was carried out on the sidelines of the Russian Championships at the end of December, the Valieva affair splashes the Olympics. The day after the notification of her positive test, Valieva had obtained the lifting of her suspension, decision confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Just 24 hours before his short program.
The question of those around her is extremely important, because (Valieva) is a minor and we need to be told how she can have products in her body that obviously shouldn’t be there.
recalled Mr. Bach.
According to my experience of doping cases that I have had to manage, when there is doping, it is very rarely done alone
he insisted.
This case also raises the question of the age of competitors, who are often minors in figure skating: should a minimum age be set? We are going to start discussions on this question, we must think about it calmly with WADA on the one hand and the international federations to find out if there is a need for regulation.
said Thomas Bach.
But for now, the most pressing question in the eyes of Thomas Bach concerns Kamila Valieva and her entourage: All the light will be shed and we will not hesitate to take all the necessary measures, even the strongest.
he warned.