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I was team Kamila Valieva, but Russia has reduced me to a spiteful figure skating fan
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I have never wanted a 15-year-old to fail so much in my life.
But when Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva executed her short program Tuesday, that’s exactly what her team’s handling of her positive drug test had reduced me to – a spiteful fan who loved her during the pre-Olympics competitions but now feels betrayed.
I’ve been a figure skating fan since I watched my first Winter Games in the 1970s. In this Olympics season, from October’s Skate America in Las Vegas until December’s Grand Prix Final in Japan, my husband and I savored the feast of tournaments that featured 44 women, 38 men, 25 pairs teams and 34 ice dance duos from 21 countries.
And there was no question we’d be watching the Winter Olympics, despite Beijing’s genocide of Muslim Uyghurs and human rights violations – because China is not the fault of athletes who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much to be Olympians.
The best women’s figure skating team
Of course, we cheered for our Americans to do well, but it was obvious from Vegas that the Russians are by far the best women’s figure skating team. Quads, artistry, holy s–t daring. We couldn’t get enough. And from the first time we were introduced to Valieva, her perfection on the ice floored us. We, like the figure skating world, bet it all on her winning gold in Beijing.
But not like this.
Valieva’s Dec. 25 drug test from the Russian national championships came back positive on Feb. 8, a six-week delay the Swedish lab blamed on COVID-19 complications. The bombshell hit after the 15-year-old had already become the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in Olympic history.
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The substance? Trimetazidine, used for heart-related conditions, is not approved for use in the United States and, since 2014, has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances. TMZ is categorized as a “hormone and metabolic modulator,” illegal for athletes to use both in and out of competition because it can increase blood flow efficiency and improve endurance. What else? TMZ is not recommended for those 18 or younger.
The Stockholm laboratory also found evidence of two other heart medications in Valieva’s sample, but they’re not on the banned list, according to The New York Times.
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Despite her attorney claiming at a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing that Valieva’s grandfather takes trimetazidine for heart issues, and that she accidentally ingested the drug by sipping from the same glass of water, I don’t buy it. Andrey Zholinsky, a sports medicine authority who testified at the hearing, said TMZ is packaged in a film-coated tablet and would not leave traces.
What Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir said about their own histories with drug testing
Look, I feel sorry for Valieva. She’s only as old as my high school freshman son.
I blame the adults – at the testing lab, on her coaching team and among those alphabet-soup Olympic organizations – for this permanent stain on the record of such an exquisite, young talent. But is the teenager really blameless?
Lots of people have protested that Valieva shouldn’t be competing in these Olympics – including NBC analysts Tara Lipinski, who won Olympic gold when she herself was a 15-year-old skater in 1998, and Johnny Weir, a two-time Olympian. On Tuesday, before Valieva skated her short program, they recounted to viewers how from a young age, regular drug testing affected what medicines they could take whenever they got sick.
“My first drug test was when I was 13 years old,” Weir said, “and from then on until my 20s, I had to account for every hour of every day by filling in a calendar and submitting it to two different doping agencies. And it came to the point where I would be so sick, my mom had to call a hotline to see what I was able to take. So I was very aware early on what I was allowed to put into my body.”
“I was drug testing by the time I was 12,” Lipinski said, “and it was just protocol. I knew that this was the way of life for a skater and an athlete. … My mom, any time I had a mild cold, she would say OK, we got to call who we need to make sure we’re taking the proper meds.”
U.S. track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson, who wasn’t allowed to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana, tweeted that the only difference between her case and Valieva’s is that “I’m a black young lady.”
The Uyghurs:My people suffer genocide while the world plays games at the Winter Olympics
As much sympathy as you feel for Valieva, think of her fellow figure skaters. This scandal has already robbed them of the team medal ceremony during the Beijing Games, where Russia grabbed gold, the USA earned silver and Japan won bronze. And if Valieva placed in the top three in the individual events, the International Olympic Committee said, it would not hold a medal ceremony. Well, the women’s free skate competition is Thursday.
For her short program, Valieva skated to “In Memoriam” by Kirill Richter. It’s a sad, haunting instrumental piece filled with regret and longing. And I watched the same emotions pass over the teen’s face as she uncharacteristically failed to perfect a triple axel but, of course, still executed a highly technical difficult show to place first. When she finished, she put her hands to her face and her eyes seemed to tear up.
Seemed. See what team Valieva made me do? Now I can’t even believe if a kid cried. Olympic spirit, in memoriam.
Thuan Le Elston, a member of USA TODAY’s Editorial Board, is the author of “Rendezvous at the Altar: From Vietnam to Virginia.” Follow her on Twitter: @thuanelston
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Business
'A bad déjà vu': Under the crush of Western sanctions, Russians fear a return to dark economic days
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The lone No. 1 seed still alive heading into the Elite Eight, Kansas needs only a win against No. 10 Miami (Fla.) to book a spot in the Final Four.
No. 2 Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski can make one last Final Four and chase one final national championship by beating No. 4 Arkansas.
No. 2 Villanova can reach the national semifinals for the third time in six tournaments by winning what should be a defense-dominated brawl against No. 5 Houston.
And after beating No. 4 UCLA in the Sweet 16, No. 8 North Carolina is one win from reaching the Final Four under first-year coach Hubert Davis.
If everything goes according to plan, this year’s Final Four will consist of some of the biggest names in the history of the sport.
But the last week has taught us that this year’s NCAA Tournament will inevitably deviate from the script.
So look for the Jayhawks to be shocked in the Elite Eight, as the Bill Self collection of tournament collapses adds another painful chapter. Based on how things have gone through three rounds, Arkansas is a lock to send Krzyzewski into retirement one game shy of the Final Four. Villanova may be a two-time champion under Jay Wright, but the Wildcats will be smothered by Houston.
And, of course, the Tar Heels will lose to the team that embodies the wackiness and uncertainty of this entire tournament.
Saint Peter’s stands at the precipice of another outlandish achievement: being the first No. 15 seed — the first seed lower than No. 11, in fact — to reach the Final Four.
The Peacocks will be the underdog once again come Sunday, when they’ll match against a deeper and more talented opponent with decades of history to more than overshadow the Peacocks’ three-game run.
But beating another college basketball giant will simply take what we already know the Peacocks can bring to the table: Saint Peter’s reached the Elite Eight with energy, aggressiveness and composure, following the model set by unflappable coach Shaheen Holloway, and that same combination will give the Peacocks a chance at etching themselves into an even more permanent place in NCAA Tournament history.
“We’re happy but don’t mistake, we’re not satisfied, we’re not satisfied at all,” said guard Doug Edert. “The job is not finished. We feel like we belong and the more games we win the more confidence we build.”
That sounds like bad news for the Tar Heels, who might’ve righted the ship after a poor start to ACC play but could be the latest blueblood to the Peacocks’ formula.
At some point, the magic has to run out — for Saint Peter’s, which somehow keeps stacking upsets of higher-ranked opponents, and for the tournament at large, which has been wackier than ever but could suddenly snap back to the status quo.
But this March has not gone according to plan. Several big names lost early. Others failed to get out of the second round. The story of this year’s tournament has been upsets, shockers, letdowns, unpredictable officiating and unpredictability, period — why should the next two days be any different?
Follow colleges reporter Paul Myerberg on Twitter @PaulMyerberg
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