International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said he was "very disturbed" by Russian Kamila Valieva's skate and of her entourage.
Check out USA TODAY's Olympics coverage:
» Subscribe to USA TODAY:
» USA TODAY delivers current local and national news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, and more through award-winning journalism, photos, videos and VR.
#WinterOlympics #Beijing2022 #KamilaValieva #Russia
IOC is partly to blame. The moral way of handling this would have been to proceed normally, NOT stop the podium, shield the participant from the media circus.
When the competition was done, you would have gone after the guilty party, the Russian machine.
IOC’s political half measure made things SO much worse bringing shame on the head of the only innocent party, Kamila.
The Russian child bodily control needs to be brought down.
EDIT:
I have been thinking about the Valieva case over the past few days .. Her only “sin” or “mistake” is that she allowed herself to be put down. WADA may be complicit in insider betting activity, either having delayed results for insiders or actively tampered with the test. Meanwhile the irresponsible IOC played politics with her fate by giving a sentence that goes against human rights involving the “innocent until proven guilty” principle, by denying ceremonies in case she won, effectively pushing her off balance either through her team’s influence or just emotionally through shunning. She should have been shielded from all this and a full investigation into the practices of the Russian system should have followed, not punishing the single innocent person involved. Even if illegal doping was involved (and most are heavily doped legally), it should punish the guilty party (doctors and coaches) for later correctness, not the athlete. In this case, her body was no more abused with drugs than any of her teammates, who are kept unnaturally slim through diet and supplements. The legalities involved by the IOC = rubbish, AGAINST the LETTER of HUMAN RIGHTS
It’s not her fault but the people behind her. She’s 15 years old, the only thing she knew was to skate at her best.. No doubt she is incredible.
Drugs
@Dennis Garcia she did drugs how you accident take drugs like what the heck
Okay you druggie mom! Haha.
The drugs do it.
Eteri Tutberidze has a cold behavior the dosent sit well with me ,I hope the kamila come back 🔙 from this she is the only reason why i tuning to figure skating with out kamila figure skating is unwatchable,The whole world love you kamila 🌍🌎♥️🙏😍♥️🎉💕❤️❤️❤️💕💕
IOC, the Russian management, are all responsible for her well being. Valieva was broken before she competed with all the scandal.
Kamila was mentally prepared to compete until the IOC decided to make an example of a 15 y-o. This man should be ashamed of himself, along with those pushing the dope. He can stick his faux concern up his a$$!
@Cheeto Bandido your are the best bandido indeed)))
The situation should not have been disclosed in the first place by WADA or IOC.
I no longer trust the IOC, they had the opportunity to act before this tragedy, shame on Thomas Bach and the comity, you’re also responsable for this situation.
The only thing the IOC did wrong was not flagging the drug tests coming out of the Russian National Championships (all medalists at these kind of events are automatically tested, just like they are at the Olympics) as a priority when they learned that test results were being backlogged due to a reduction in staffing at this testing facility because of Covid. The tests for any athlete going to the Olympics should have been prioritized. Once the test results came in during the Olympics, the IOC had to abide by the decision of CAS. This young lady need not have been put out there with all that pressure on her only to end up shattered.
You have contributed to this sad story mr. Bach and IOC. 🤢, hypocrisy in its beauty.
I think this IOC is as crooked as they come. His behavior has lost the confidence of many.
This just breaks my heart for that young lady. 15 yrs old with all that pressure. And for her team (entourage), they should be absolutely ashamed of the way they treated that child when she came off the ice. I hope she’s strong enough and hopefully has a support system out there somewhere to love her through this time in her life. Prayers for Kamila🙏
Thomas Bach bullied Camila and broke her life. Bully bully bully!!!! Shame on you!!!
A great comment. Love Bananas)))
Shame on you, IOC should make a mea culpa… By making the decision not to award medals (without the B sample being analyzed and the investigation being finished) IOC killed Valieva’s morale. Heroically, she did everything to not be on the podium. What she said in the kiss and cry area was very clear: “At least now there can be a medal ceremony”. Now the IOC tries to blame the couch… Shame on you, IOC!
Her coaches gave her drugs but you’re blaming the IOC? She shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. Blame the corrupt CAS for not sending her straight home.
Thomas Bach’s remarks are the pinnacle of hypocrisy.
In this season, Kamila’s doping test results were clean at four international competitions,
but only the test for the Russian national competition showed polluted result.
As CAS rejected IOC’s indictment to ban Kamila’s participation in individual competition,
the IOC should have announced that IOC would normally award medals for the results of the game,
but that medal and record could be deprived if Kamila did intentional doping.
The IOC’s shocking announcement “If Kamila stands on podium, medal award ceremony would be canceled” must have acted as the biggest pressure on Kamila,
and this ultimately made it impossible to watch Kamila’s performance in full of heavenly and mysterious beauty, which all figure fans around the world wanted to see.
The IOC should take the greatest responsibility.
The IOC did zero PR to protect Kamila. They also did not talk confidentially to Kamila and her team prior to making the positive result public, and to give Kamila’s camp a chance to prepare, or even for them to decide to leave the Olympics on their own. “When I say talk confidentially to Kamila and her team”, I mean sit down with them and together discuss the best way out of the situation for the minor, not just informing them of the negative test result. Instead Kamila had to sit through a 7-hour hearing on the night prior to her performing.
Again, nothing from the IOC was done to protect this little girl. The public bullying started immediately and it was ruthless, and still is.
There are still too many loose ends on this issue:
1. How did the drug get into her system?
– Accidental contamination? Very possible. See my own experience below.
– Did the lab in Stockholm mix up the samples? Both the A and B samples because I believe they are packaged together.
– Her supporting team (coaches or doctors) fed her the drug disguised as vitamins and she did not realize what she is taking?
– She took the drug knowingly? I have a hard time to believe this but let the investigation conclude. A 15-year-old will not be able to get hold of that drug.
2. Would she, her team, ROC, etc., have sent her samples to Stockholm, or her to the Olympics, knowing or suspecting that this drug was in her body?
– I doubt it. These people are not stupid.
– They would not even have sent her to the Olympics if they knew at that time.
– Also see the last bullet in item 4 below.
3. All her tests prior to and after this 25 December 2021 test turned up negative.
– In her entire career, only this one test on 25 December 2021 turned up positive.
– All her tests in Beijing at the Olympics turned up negative.
– Coincidence?
4. Why did the lab in Stockholm take 6 weeks to publish the test results while the IOC rules are that test results must be published within 20 days?
– First they blamed the delay on COVID.
– Then they accused Russia of “slow-walking” the process.
– Lately they blame Russia for not having marked her samples as urgent or critical.
– This is absurd and all these excuses is just noise. The IOC rules state that the lab must publish the results within 20 days.
– Had Valieva or the ROC received the results within 20 days they would have had time to challenge the results and, if the results were accepted as true, they would not have sent her to the Olympics.
5. Why did the lab publish the results exactly one day after she helped her team to win gold?
– Coincidence? Questionable.
Accidental Contamination. My own experience:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I was working in a foreign country as an expat for 5 years. Every year all expats had to go for a complete and thorough medical examination. One year I failed. The testing Dr told me they detected an illegal drug in my system. I was floored as I never used drugs in my entire life. This was serious as I could go to jail in this country for this. The Dr then asked me to go and fetch all the medicine that I have in my apartment and to bring it back to him. He then identified a specific head-ache tablet, that was available in any pharmacy without a prescription, to contain the illegal substance they detected in my system.
This is how easy it can happen.
There are people in many countries all over the world (e.g., France, South Africa, etc.) for whom Kamila is a hero.
You could see the duress and despair in her body language from the beginning of her performance. It was terrible.
What a shame on you mr Bach
This is just the IOC pointing the finger. It’s their fault for allowing her to compete even tho she failed a test.
Thomas Bach is complicit in the way these athletes are treated and abused. He is trying to save face for himself but will do nothing to actually help the situation as long as the $$ is coming in.
The hypocrisy is unmeasurable. You dirty old man. You and IOC put all this in scene. You are the ones to blame. Why did you put all this pressure on this young girl ? You did this !
IOC forced Kamila to several cruel examinations during the Olympics, forced her to wait for 6-7 hours with no sleep, letting the press bully her… And her coach is responsible for not hugging her properly?? Huh?? What a hypocricy
The tragedy is all attributed to the utterly crude no-ceremony decision by your IOC! It’s time to restructure IOC, or eliminate it altogether.
Does Mr. Bach have a split personality? He simultaneously heads an organization involved in the persecution of Kamilla Valieva, and sheds crocodile tears, pretending to pity the most talented figure skater in the world.
I’m no fan of the IOC but people got some nerve trying to make this their fault.
Blame her coaches, CAS, and RUSADA