February 15, 20224 yr Oh sorry - didn't realize it has a paywall. Here's the NYTimes article under spoiler Spoiler Valieva Had 3 Substances That Could Be Used to Treat Heart Conditions in Sample Tariq Panja 5-6 minutes Kamila Valieva had three substances that could be used to treat heart conditions in her sample. Only one is banned. Feb. 15, 2022Updated 4:47 p.m. ET The teenage Russian figure skater at the center of a doping case at the Beijing Olympics had three substances that can be used to treat heart conditions in the sample she provided to an antidoping laboratory before the Games, according to a document filed in her arbitration hearing on Sunday. The skater, Kamila Valieva, was cleared to continue competing in the Games by a panel of arbitrators on Monday even though a drug found in her system, trimetazidine, is on the list of drugs banned by global antidoping officials. Valieva, 15, provided the sample in December, but Russian antidoping officials said they only learned of her positive result last week. But according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and confirmed by someone who took part in the hearing, the Stockholm laboratory that carried out the examination of Valieva’s sample also found evidence of two other substances that can treat the heart but are not on the banned list. Valieva even listed them, Hypoxen and L-carnitine, on a doping control form. The presence of trimetazidine in Valieva’s system may have been a mistake, Russian and Olympic officials have suggested. But the discovery of several substances in the sample of an elite athlete, especially one as young as Valieva, was highly unusual, according to a prominent antidoping official. “It’s a trifecta of substances — two of which are allowed, and one that is not allowed,” said Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, when told of the discovery. He added that the benefits of such a combination “seem to be aimed at increasing endurance, reducing fatigue and promoting greater efficiency in using oxygen.” Earlier on Tuesday, a member of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board told reporters that Valieva’s positive result might have stemmed from a case of contamination with medication that her grandfather has been taking. And in testimony provided to an earlier hearing with Russian antidoping officials on Feb. 9, and later submitted as evidence in Sunday’s hearing in Beijing, Valieva’s mother said her daughter was taking Hypoxen because of heart “variations.” Valieva’s grandfather did not testify in the original hearing in Russia, but did provide a pre-recorded video shot in a car, according to a portion of the document. In the video, the document said, he claimed to use trimetazidine periodically when he suffered “attacks,” and showed a packet of the medication to the camera. Valieva’s mother said in her evidence in the Russian hearing that Valieva’s grandfather accompanied the teenager to practice on a daily basis and stayed with Valieva until her mother returned home from work. Sign up for the Sports Newsletter Get our most ambitious projects, stories and analysis delivered to your inbox every week. L-carnitine, a naturally occurring substance that converts fat into energy, has surfaced in significant doping cases in the past. In 2019, Alberto Salazar, then a coach of some of the world’s top distance runners, was barred from the sport for four years in part for giving improper infusions of the substance to his athletes in an effort to boost their performance. Salazar’s ban has since been made permanent. L-carnitine is allowed to be taken orally, Tygart said, but prohibited if given in large amounts by an infusion or IV because it could give an unfair performance-enhancing advantage. It was not clear how Valieva took the supplement, or the concentration in her sample. The World Anti-Doping Agency, which is charged with policing doping in global sports, declined to comment on the document. The Russian antidoping agency, known as Rusada, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The document said that Valieva had declared three products on her doping control form that was submitted with the now-failed test. Those products, the document said, were L-carnitine, Hypoxen and Supradyn, an immunity boosting supplement. WADA had been among the organizations that pressed for Valieva’s suspension from competition — which would have effectively ended her Olympics — last week after revelations that she had tested positive became public the day after she helped Russia’s skaters win the gold medal in the team competition in Beijing. Cleared to compete by a panel of arbitrators on Monday, Valieva returned to the ice on Tuesday and took first place in the short program of the women’s singles competition. She is widely expected to win the event after the free skate on Thursday.
February 15, 20224 yr Just watched a couple of the replays on CBC and I was able to listen to some commentary....nice to hear that Kurt thought Kaori had the skate of the night, and the 3 best jumping passes of the night. He and Kaetlyn Osmond were impressed (as usual), with that amazing speed and ice coverage. They loved her.
February 16, 20224 yr I have a question, doping aside, what do you guys think of her skating? I havent watched women figure skating in eons so not sure what is the scenery...but i watched this girl SP since I was curious due to this whole controversy and how can I put it... she seemed rather unrefined, clumsy and brutish. like a baby horse. im not trying to be mean, thats like the energy I got from her. Is she well liked previous to this? Like, do people praise her skating and so? I know I am being harsh but if she is a top contender I am surprised, it is nothing like what I was expecting.
February 16, 20224 yr An eye opening clip about the Russian team doctor who was found guilty of doping. Now I have even less doubt that doping young children and teenagers is something that has been going on for years in that camp. This is a very interesting video which describes the issues regarding Eteri and her girls.
February 16, 20224 yr 9 hours ago, wingman said: Nam should be a judge!! Gut the beast, Nam! (Seriously... I am heart-broken for Wakaba. She had a good point --- her score is LOWER than that in the team event. How is that even possible. Some people are obviously too worried that she's a serious medal contender. ) That's exactly what I thought when her score came out. Why should she do a 3A then?
February 16, 20224 yr 1 hour ago, Crow said: I have a question, doping aside, what do you guys think of her skating? I havent watched women figure skating in eons so not sure what is the scenery...but i watched this girl SP since I was curious due to this whole controversy and how can I put it... she seemed rather unrefined, clumsy and brutish. like a baby horse. im not trying to be mean, thats like the energy I got from her. Is she well liked previous to this? Like, do people praise her skating and so? I know I am being harsh but if she is a top contender I am surprised, it is nothing like what I was expecting. It depends which side of the fandom you ask. I think most people here would agree with you. Skating skills leave a lot to be desired, and there's no real performance happening. Just a bunch of disconnected elements. But there's definitely sides of the fandom that love the Russian girls. Unsure what they'll think after this whole dumpster fire of a competition (I doubt many of them will change their minds, though, given that the blatant overscoring has never been a problem for them).
February 16, 20224 yr 1 hour ago, Crow said: I have a question, doping aside, what do you guys think of her skating? I havent watched women figure skating in eons so not sure what is the scenery...but i watched this girl SP since I was curious due to this whole controversy and how can I put it... she seemed rather unrefined, clumsy and brutish. like a baby horse. im not trying to be mean, thats like the energy I got from her. Is she well liked previous to this? Like, do people praise her skating and so? I know I am being harsh but if she is a top contender I am surprised, it is nothing like what I was expecting. Kamila? There are those who already believe she is the best female figure skater in history, and there are those who believe she is the best figure skater across all the disciplines. And there are those who don't like her skating and/or choreography at all. I think she's been watched as an future star since she was a child, like even around 10 or 11 or even earlier. Personally, I like her skating in general, her spins are fabulous. She was probably my favourite out of Eteri's camp, along with Kostornaia. I really wish she had better choreography. So much of whether you like someone comes down to choreo and she could do much better elsewhere.
February 16, 20224 yr Quote The average household rating for the "Beijing Olympics Figure Skating Women's Short Program" (10:15 p.m.) broadcasted on NHK General on March 15 was 18.7% (Kanto region, preliminary figures), according to Video Research. The individual viewer rating was 10.9%. Despite the fact that the competition was held late at night, the ratings were high. https://www.nikkansports.com/olympic/beijing2022/figure_skating/news/202202160000238.html
February 16, 20224 yr 2 hours ago, Yuzurella said: This is a very interesting video which describes the issues regarding Eteri and her girls. Lol, Medobot. Medo was so unloved by judges after she switched coaches that she was still winning PCS with bombed programs. Not to mention the infamous +2.11 on a flutz.
February 16, 20224 yr 15 hours ago, Crow said: I have a question, doping aside, what do you guys think of her skating? I havent watched women figure skating in eons so not sure what is the scenery...but i watched this girl SP since I was curious due to this whole controversy and how can I put it... she seemed rather unrefined, clumsy and brutish. like a baby horse. im not trying to be mean, thats like the energy I got from her. Is she well liked previous to this? Like, do people praise her skating and so? I know I am being harsh but if she is a top contender I am surprised, it is nothing like what I was expecting. Valieva? Overall, doping aside, I think she's pretty good on the whole, but obviously way overrated. I think her components are genuinely better than Anna and Sasha. Her skating skills are ok, she has nice flow but her edge control is a bit weak and she has a tendency to go to the wrong edge on harder turns. Overall her flaws in that department are not to the point where I find they detract from the program, unlike say Anna. Her jumps are kinda shoddy from a technical perspective: many are very excessively pre-rotated, and I feel like her extension disguises the fact that her landings aren't actually that nice--she doesn't have good knee bend, she lands a bit forward, and her weight sometimes isn't solidly over her right foot. Her spins are really good. I think she varies a lot in PE/CH/INT. Her short I usually find pretty good, but the free is a horrendous jump drill. Overall, I think if the scoring were fair and this weren't the result of doping, she would be a solid contender for gold (it's not like the other women don't have their own problems), but no where near as dominant as the judging makes her out to be. I had her behind Wakaba and Kaori and more or less tied for 3rd with Gubanova when I re-scored the event.
February 16, 20224 yr 13 hours ago, Crow said: I have a question, doping aside, what do you guys think of her skating? I havent watched women figure skating in eons so not sure what is the scenery...but i watched this girl SP since I was curious due to this whole controversy and how can I put it... she seemed rather unrefined, clumsy and brutish. like a baby horse. im not trying to be mean, thats like the energy I got from her. Is she well liked previous to this? Like, do people praise her skating and so? I know I am being harsh but if she is a top contender I am surprised, it is nothing like what I was expecting. I saw Kamila in person at SCI21, and pretty much agree with what others have already said. She was actually faster and had better flow than I was expecting from what I had seen on a screen, definitely better than Trusova. (Won't comment on Anna because I haven't seen her in person.) That same competition had Wakaba, Mai, Mana, and Kostonaia though, and direct comparison on the same ice? It was no contest. I also thought Kamila lacked a lightness and ease across the ice that the other 4 had. Technical-elements-wise, her prerotations and landing on the inside edge (and also switching edges in her jump combo) were really obvious in person. Her spins, I thought were top-notch though - fast, almost unreal centering, great extensions. IMO, all the makings of a great champion if they gave her the time to grow and refine her skills, but definitely nowhere near the dominant force the scores are suggesting as of right now. Re: other people. I hear a lot of praise for her skating, but I also think it has to do with the quads and 3A's, like a lot of people automatically assume ultra-C elements + good extensions = great skating. And also the media hype around her.
February 16, 20224 yr 15 hours ago, Crow said: I have a question, doping aside, what do you guys think of her skating? I havent watched women figure skating in eons so not sure what is the scenery...but i watched this girl SP since I was curious due to this whole controversy and how can I put it... she seemed rather unrefined, clumsy and brutish. like a baby horse. im not trying to be mean, thats like the energy I got from her. Is she well liked previous to this? Like, do people praise her skating and so? I know I am being harsh but if she is a top contender I am surprised, it is nothing like what I was expecting. IMO, she's pretty typical of an Eteri skater: no polish or grace on the ice because they're muscling thier way through jump after jump crammed into bad choreography
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