The professional sports world and the Olympic world is still reeling from the Kamila Valieva case. Valieva is the 15-year-old Russian figure skater who tested positive for a performance enhancing drug which is banned by WADA, the IOC and everyone else. The test was done on Christmas Day, but the results didn’t come in until last week, just after Valieva won gold in the team competition at the Beijing Olympics. The IOC had hearings and basically, they’re still allowing Valieva to skate and compete, but they’re leaving open the possibility of suspension somewhere down the line. This is incredibly unfair to not only the skaters who are competing clean, but it’s unfair to the athletes who have been suspended for less than this.
One of the most recent cases of an Olympic athlete being suspended from competition was Sha’carri Richardson. She was suspended shortly before the Tokyo Olympics last year after she tested positive for marijuana. Pot is NOT performance-enhancing, but it is a “banned substance” (although the rules have been slightly loosened around pot, Sha’carri had smoked or taken an edible too recently for the IOC/WADA). Well, Sha’carri had some thoughts.
Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines? My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady. https://t.co/JtUfmp3F8L
— Sha’Carri Richardson (@itskerrii) February 14, 2022
She also tweeted out: “It’s all in the skin” and “Btw THC definitely is not a performance enhance!!!!” and:
Failed in December and the world just now know however my resulted was posted within a week and my name & talent was slaughtered to the people.
— Sha’Carri Richardson (@itskerrii) February 14, 2022
Not one BLACK athlete has been about to compete with a case going on, I don’t care what they say!!!
— Sha’Carri Richardson (@itskerrii) February 14, 2022
Yep. She’s right. And even if you say “well, this is figure skating, the age difference, blah blah this is different,” think of how the IOC would have reacted if they caught a Black or brown teenager doping. That child would have been ripped to shreds. That child would be humiliated internationally and banned from competition. I get that Valieva IS a kid (15 years old, come on), but how much of the IOC’s decision was just the infantilization of white girls and white women? All of the IOC men were so eager to patronizingly “allow” this white child to compete. They would have ripped a young Black girl apart.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Why do the results take so long to come out ?
The lab *said* that there was a backup due to the supply chain. Also, with workers down with Covid. So this created a backlog of tests that needed to be analyzed, hence the “delay”.
Frankly, I think they were told (or bribed) to stall it as long as possible. I wouldn’t put anything past Putin. Remember, Russia “banned” her as soon as she tested in Russia, then lo and behold! she was “unbanned” the next day.
Castor Semenya was 17/18 I believe when she performed so well in track that she was subjected to drug testing, which came back clean and then they found that she had a naturally high level of testosterone. She was forced to take meds to lower her testosterone, her gender subject to lots of speculation and not allowed to compete. Allowing the 15 year old white girl who tested positive for a performance enhancing substance while young black athletes don’t get that same consideration is white supremacy at play.
THIS! THIS! THIS! I was so upset by her case. It was absolutely disgraceful.
I don’t believe she is 15 either. I think the Russians knew she would come up hot on a drug screen so shaved some years off to get the consideration the Olympics committee gave her,
I feel for her, but neither of these athletes should have competed. Is it unfair? Absolutely. But I’m of the mindset that athletes should complete clean. Pot is banned, end of story. And I respectfully disagree that it is not performance enhancing. There are tons of links between CBD and pain relief, and ultimately it could impact recovery time between trainings. Sativa is an upper, as well.
The evidence that CBD helps with pain is largely anecdotal and the impact of the placebo effect has not been measured. Kamila was taking a drug that was banned because it has specific and measurable impacts on the circulatory system.
For sure the freaking angina medication is so much worse, however – there is a list of banned substances, not a spectrum of illegal drugs ranked by their overall ability to enhance performance. I’m sick of grey areas being used to defend everyone. Just stick to the damn rules, it’s not that hard.
Candy, cbd and thc are two completely different compounds. Pot plants high in cbd have very low thc amounts, and vice versa. If you are taking pot to get high, you are not getting the cbd benefits- that kind of pot doesn’t have enough cbd in it to matter. Furthermore, The research on cbd is all over the place and it’s difficult to say right now if it does even 10% of what it’s purported to do. Please do some research before spouting what equates to modern day reefer madness. If we’ve learned anything at all from the past decade, it’s dangerous to spout off half baked ideas as facts. I get it, rules are rules, but you are veering away from your point here.
If the research is lacking, then that’s one more reason it should remain banned. You don’t need to attack me personally to make your point, I’m not a trumpian alternative facts spewer, you said yourself pot contains CBD, which yes has been proven to reduce chronic pain.
yeah this is some bullshit. weed is not a “performance enhancing” drug… except for maybe snowboarding, haha. Sha’Carri got robbed and I hope she gets another go.
Seriously the only way marijuana could be “performance enhancing” is if this was the Snacking Olympics so why even have it on the list of band substances? On the other hand that angina med the 15 year old tested positive for is actually performance enhancing. I feel for Sha’Carri and I’m glad she’s pointing out the hipocrisy.
Snacking Olympics lol!
I’d tryout for the snacking olympics, been training my whole life! 😆
They have ripped young women of color apart. There was a 13 year old Korean skater who left the building after a competition because she didn’t know she would be tested. She was subsequently tested and tested clean, but they warned her that she could have faced a 5 year ban. A Japanese skater was just underscored in the short program at the Olympics. Although it is true that Sha’carri’s situation and Kamila’s are different (with Kamila out and out lying about taking her grandfather’s medicine “by accident”), there is a demonstrated racial bias in how white and non-white athletes are treated.
I can recall a headline when Tara Lipinski beat Michelle Kwan: “American beats Kwan.” Um..Michelle Kwan is American too. We live in a culture where the experiences and hardships of white people are deemed more important than any one else’s experiences and hardships. The CAS said with a straight face that they couldn’t deny this girl her moment–not even considering all of the other athletes in the field who will be denied their moment if Kamila wins and they don’t hold a medal ceremony.
Wow… that Lipinski/Kwan headline is just gross.
As a happier side note Re: Michelle Kwan, she pops up in an Episode of Queer Eye (Season 4, ‘Stoner Skates By’) and is so wonderfully sweet to the family she mentors for the day. Was SO awesome to see her skating again, and she’s of course as fabulously beautiful as ever!
Just a quick fact check: Kamila isn’t white per se. She is Russian according to her passport but Tatar when it comes to her nationality, name, language and culture. If interested do read up on all the discrimination and oppression done against this minority nation.
I’m not excusing Kamila’s team’s actions btw but your comment is factually untrue and misleading
Do you think anyone but you and card carrying white supremacists care to make that distinction in her ethnicity? Her skin colour is white regardless of her ethnicity. This is how most people will lump her and most whites and non-whites will perceive her. Your “argument” is wholly unnecessary and inappropriate in this particular situation given IOC’s historic track record in their treatment of non-white athletes.
If she’s too young to be tested or have the rules apply to her, she’s too young to compete. They need to be consistent. This is blatant discrimination.
This!
Great point!
Exactly. I saw some people arguing in favor because of her age…but…no one is forcing a teenager to compete with adults. By accident or not, she took the drugs and needs to face the consequences as any other competitor would. If not, they need to start putting age limits on the Olympic Games and other competitions because the adults can’t be trusted to treat minors the same.
Agree! She’s not too damn young to practice all the time…and perform these jumps that could cause serious harm. So she’s not too young to be kicked out for doping.
THIS! I think it’s time to put an age limit on people competing. No one under 18 should be allowed to compete if this what has to happen. They pick these underfed, growth stunted kids so they can jump higher and skate faster. These kids and their parents sign up for these harsh , state sanctioned “training” programs because winners are rewarded with fame and a life of relative ease, they aren’t naive to what happens at these programs. Minors should stick to the junior leagues to cut down on this. Now they can keep doping because they know that minors are allowed to slide .
I think 15 *is* too young to compete at the Olympics, particularly in a sport like figure skating. It has too many parallels to gymnastics and we all know how horrific the training regimes for those girls and young women were until very recently.
Yep. Using her age as an excuse here is pathetic. Whether or not it’s wise to have actual children competing at this level is up for debate, but if they’re going to be there, they need to follow the same rules. This morning, Tara and Johnny were talking about being drug tested at 12 or 13, and having to constantly account for their whereabouts, and their parents having to consult the federation about what medications they could be given every time they had a minor cold or allergies. It can’t be easy to go through all that, but even the youngest athletes understand that these are the rules and they have to sacrifice convenience and normality for success.
And I don’t want to be too harsh, because I do feel for Kamila and I think it’s awful that she’s been manipulated by the adults around her, but it simply isn’t fair to others. She is still very young and clearly insanely gifted, and I would love to see her come back clean in 2026 and show that she never needed performance enhancers to begin with.
100%
This is ridiculous and why, in my opinion, the Olympics are no longer the stature they once were. Sha’Carri is dead right! Why can’t she compete but a 15 yr old Russian girl who tested positive for a clearly violating substance can compete? Sha’Carri is right…we all know the answer.
I believe if anyone violates the substance violation policy, they shouldn’t be allowed to compete. Wrong is wrong. But now that you let this Russian skater do it, you have to let everyone do it. The discrimination is deafening!!
She’s 100% right. Cute little Russian girl is “oh poor child, she must not have known” and black young woman is drug abuser. Also there was a 15 year old Chinese girl who was doping and kicked out a few years ago. This is racism and looks based I’m sure.
She’s not Russian, just so you know. Not ethnically. She’s Tatar, who are an ethnic and religious minority and face their part of discrimination. When you base your entire world view on the dynamics of your own country alone, you miss things.
That’s true, but I doubt anyone at the IOC knows her ethnicity either. She looks white, therefore…many connotations (meanings associated with ‘whiteness’) can come into play in the decisionmaking of judges.
Great big bodies of literature on the causal effect of beliefs/ideas on decisionmaking outcomes. Racism is not an exclusively American phenomenon.
Seriously?
Are you just joking around or do you really think that being a white presenting minority and being black or asian are the same thing? This really is the new racism. To pretend that the discrimination is all in our heads. FFS
@WTF
Where did I say that the discrimination was in anyone’s head? I said that discrimination happens to people other than black, too. Not the same thing at all.
@GrnieWnie
my point exactly, Kamila may know about discrimination a lot more than we think
I’m sorry for any discrimination that Kamila and other Tartars may have experienced (and I’m sure they’ve suffered plenty. I lived in Russia for almost 5 months, long enough to see that bigotry and discrimination often seem like something of a national pastime), but the fact that you had to explicitly tell us that she was an ethnic Tartar would suggest that it’s not common enough knowledge that it would play into how she’s treated as an athlete. Especially because the committees that make these decisions are multi-national, and the prejudice against Tartars is non-existent in most of their countries.
I’m gonna say it. That 15 year old “little girl” knew she was taking performance enhancing drugs. The way white women are infantilized while black 6 year olds are handcuffed is disgusting.
She should not be allowed to compete. Even with pressure from her coach factoring in. She should not be allowed to compete.
A 15-year-old who hasn’t hit puberty is now a “woman” being infantilized because she’s white? Seriously?
Imagine the pressure she’s under – I know that the days of the USSR are past, but I’d bet that the training regimes that were so successful still influence Russian sport now. (I mean, until the whole sexual abuse scandal the US gymnastics team was coached by a Czech (?) couple who were almost caricatures of the fearsome Soviet coaches, and who were physically and emotionally abusive to the girls and young women in their care – but the.governing body wanted those medals, so they didn’t care.) This is also why I think there should be an age limit on Olympic competition; how many years do you think this has been her whole life? Doesn’t mean she doesn’t have some responsibility, or that she shouldn’t be banned, but she’s something of a cog in a mighty machine.
why would you say she hasn’t hit puberty yet?
I mean, how do you know?
Black children being seen as older and less innocent (and thus in less need of protection) than their white peers of the same age is real and happens everyday on this planet. In contrast, their white peers are seen as younger, more innocent and thus in need of more protection.
And a 15 year old athlete who competes for a country with a documented, decades long history of cheating who hasn’t hit puberty? OK, even if it’s unfair to call her a ‘woman’ or say she’s being ‘infantilized’ (I disagree, but whatever), she still took performance enhancing drugs. And, apparently, something to suppress hormones and delay puberty.
None of the eteri girls have hit puberty yet. They are deliberately kept underfed so that they don’t enter menarche (and they are likely on puberty blockers as well for assurance). Keeping girls deliberately underfed delays puberty (it’s an old, old practice in elite gymnastics and ballet). Their food rations are measured in grams, and the coaches have openly said that even a few hundred grams of added weight can affect their jumping ability.
I think you mean the Karolyis who are Romanian. Romania like many eastern bloc countries had similar state-sponsored training programs like the USSR.
There is already an age threshold for Olympic competition; for figure skating, athletes have to turn 15 by July 1 of the year before the Olympic year.
I’m of the opinion that PEDs be legalized for competition. It’s a constant catch up game for WADA; literally zero modern Olympic Games have been clean. Outside of illicit drugs like heroin, etc, all drugs should be allowed. Athletes already put their health at risk everyday doing their sport; if they want to enhance their performance, fine but they’re responsible for taking that on. Wealthy countries will continue to dominate just like they do now. Shrug.
I mean, fifteen is a minor. One that has more cognitive understanding of their actions than a younger one, but it’s definitely still a kid. Immature and easily swayed to do things, especially coming from a country that’s notorious for its treatment of women and certain ethnic minorities (of which she is one). That she knew, I have no doubt. Whether she had a real choice or was pressured intensely is a different situation.
What we have two competing problems at play. We have very young athletes being pressured to perform at intense levels with big money at stake and probably being pressured (or FEEL pressured) to do things they may not in other situations. Then we have ethnic and racial double standards at play that are heavily influenced by Western biases that target people of non-white ethnicities and punishes them more harshly than they would white-passing ones. We can have sympathy for both. The organization that sets Olympic standards can’t. If it’s going to take a firm stance on drugs, performance enhancing or not, that needs to be the same across the board. It’s simply unacceptable for Richardson to have been tossed but not Valieva.
This is such a great encapsulation of everything. Well put. Applause
And rightly so. She got ousted for cannabis, which is legal is so many countries now and not on the banned performance enhancing list, but the Russian princess gets a complete pass on a banned substance? Hmmm no corruption here.
It is on the performance enhancing substance list
You can’t “infantilize” a child.
Sha’carri said “the only difference” is that she’s a black lady. Being a minor is always an important legal difference. Kamila also tested clean several times at the Olympics, while Sha’carri didn’t. That’s another important difference. Sha’carri also implied that the test results were covered up for weeks, which is not what happened.
I wouldn’t call a teenager a “child.” She’s a minor, yes, but she’s 15, not 5.
The issue here IS that the test results were severely delayed. If they had been analyzed at the time, this wouldn’t have gotten to this point.
The cheating and doping from the Russians is undeniable at this point. It’s an ongoing systemic issue and has been for decades. Kamila’s coach in particular has been a major problem.
I do feel terribly for Kamila and the other young people caught up in the machine, but this IS cheating. That was a banned substance. It destroys the whole point of the Olympics.
“The cheating and doping from the Russians is undeniable at this point. It’s an ongoing systemic issue and has been for decades.”
which, BTW, is WHY they have to compete under the “Russian Olympic Committee” name because the country was BANNED from competing.
(you probably knew this; I was just pointing out that they’re STILL doping, even though they were banned for it…SMDH)
I have a 14 year-old; a 15 year-old is most assuredly still a child. They simply don’t have the cognitive development at that age to make reasoned, mature decisions, and as others said elsewhere in this thread, I am sure there is enormous pressure on Kamila to comply with her coach and trainer’s demands.
I think there is nuance and some differences between these two situations, but ultimately if testing positive for a banned substance is the justification for disqualifying one athlete, then it should be the same for any other. Either revise the rules, or apply them equally.
But if her being a child dismisses her from repercussions of testing positive for performance enhancing substance why even test her?
being a minor makes zero difference when it comes to taking and testing positive for a banned substance when you are competing in the Olympics. there is either a zero-tolerance policy or there is not, and it appears that there is zero tolerance for black women and marijuana and wiggle room for a white teen who took a substance banned for performance enhancement. and i have no problem at all believing that the test results were covered up.
this decision sucks the remaining credibility out from the Olympic committee.
If she is old enough to compete in senior sports then she is old enough to be subjected to the same rules as other athletes. otherwise it gives her a major advantage.
OK, so instead of the differences, look at the similarities.
They both tested positive for a banned drug. They both tested positive for a banned drug prior to the Olympics.
I lied, I’ll look at one difference. Sha’carri admitted she smoked pot and took responsibility for her actions, Kamila lied and tried say she took her grandfather’s heard meds accidentally (LMAO).
Sha’Carrie didn’t get a chance to test at the Olympics because they wouldn’t let her go. And the Russian girls ‘clean’ test, obviously missed the drugs. Unless you are suggesting that she took the drugs with her to the Olympics and was actively doping during the competition. Which would be an even worse fact pattern.
She should be upset – she was treated terribly. At the same time, we can’t discount that this is Russia, which has been doping since the Soviet Union days, doesn’t seem to want to stop and the world keeps trying to appease them. Never mind age, figure skating, whatever – if Russia had a Black athlete in Kamila’s situation, the IOC would still have rolled over.
As she should be. They did her wrong. Hers wasn’t even performance enhancing, but they absolutely need to have fair rules across all drug types for all competitors.
I can’t believe valieva is trying to act like she accidentally took her grandpas heart medicine. That doesn’t happen. Do people crush heart meds into glasses of water ? Heart meds that enhance performance right before the Olympics? Fishy
Incredibly unfair to Sha’Carri Richardson. Besides how unfair it is for weed to be penalized or treated as a performance-enhancing drug, it’s very obvious that privileged white girls get second chances all the time while Black girls and women can’t put a toe out of line. I know politics with Russia are very delicate but come on. She (with her coach and the adults around her) blatantly cheated here.
In addition, how tf are they getting away with keeping a young teen on a liquid diet?! The whole point of the Olympics was supposed to be international unity, not winning at any cost.
I remember being 15, and I understood how to follow rules in competition (I played basketball, not anywhere near these ladies’ level obviously). Just saying.
Figure skating has always been biased. The best figure skating performance I remember seeing was in the 90s by Surya Bonaly. Judges judged her super athletic, better than everyone else’s performance with less than perfect scores. Even as a kid I knew what was up. Lady was black, muscular, and the best on the ice. She didn’t fit the thin, delicate, white, fragile appearance of the other female skaters.
Honestly I wonder if there wasn’t such an obsession with a super-thin balletic look, more muscular young women would be able to do more spectacular performances — like the guys already do those quad jumps regularly but they’re allowed to be strong.
Surya Bonaly was amazing!!!!
Bonaly was terrific—and, yeah, they really shafted her because she wasn’t a delicate spinning snowflake…
I feel like these are two different situations being conflated.
As I read the situation, Richardson was banned 30 days by USOC or USADA (so many acronyms), not the IOC, for testing positive for a known banned substance. That ban and not being picked by the USOC to be on the team are what caused her to miss the Olympics. (Now while I think weed shouldn’t be a banned substance, unfortunately at this time, it is)
With Valieva, the IOC actually supports a ban for her which is why they’ve held off on awarding figure skating team medals but that attempt to ban her was overturned by a CAS ruling in favor of the ROC delegation appeal so she gets to provisionally skate while the investigation continues. That’s why the IOC has stated if she places in the final top 3 in the women’s skate, there will be no medal ceremony to reward her. I do think Valieva should be banned just like I thought Richardson being banned was correct call even tho I understood why she decided to smoke weed at that time.
Well, we know Russia is never going to ban their own athletes.
That’s definitely a huge part of the problem.
The USA and some other countries will hold their athletes accountable for partaking in banned substances. Russia will not which is why their athletes are already participating under the ROC banner instead of as Russia cause of past doping scandals. Obviously there’s still rot in their sports programs when it comes to drugs.
I don’t know if race had anything to do with it. I do know the skater is from Russia. And I also know the IOC is corrupt. So if you follow that logic you get where we are today.
Adam Rippon tweeted a great statement:
“Every other athlete in this competition is having their whole Olympic experience altered to accommodate an athlete with a FAILED test. The entire ROC should not be here. They’ve exploited a child for results and continue to cheat and suffer no consequences.”
This! Kick out the ROC. Apologize to Sha’carri Richardson. I have no idea if this 15 year old knowingly took the banned substance, but she needs to face the consequences. How can anyone take seriously the Olympics now?
Sounds like the IOC members are afraid of falling out of open windows.
She is basically allowed to cheat!!! https://www.si.com/.amp/olympics/2022/02/14/kamila-valieva-decision-cas-let-russia-act-rogue-state
Not right, not fair. But people don’t stand up to Putin so 🤷♀️
It may be worth pointing out that Richardson was banned by the USADA/USOC — the decision-making in that case was domestic. Meanwhile, the Russian anti-doping agency handed Valieva a ban then rescinded it one day later upon appeal.
The IOC, ISU (International Skating Union), and WADA all wanted Valieva to be prevented from competing but the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against them.
Yep.
Definitely is worth pointing out cause different agencies were involved in the decision-making in the two situations.
She’s absolutely right. It’s yet another reason why the Olympics are a joke lately. I haven’t been watching this year and will continue to not do so.
The latest is that Valieva’s excuse is that her grandfather takes the medicine and she somehow was contaminated with it on accident. Excuse me while I pick my eyeballs up off the floor cause I rolled them so hard they popped out.
Here’s the thing…just cause she’s 15, no one knows if she actually knew she was taking the med. We hope she didn’t, but she is a Russian figure skater wanting gold. That is all. This is so unfair.
Is it though? One is a 15 years old child, one is a grown woman. So Im guessing its not about the colors of one’s skin, but for the choices. Grown woman made her choice with pot (which was her right) but was it the child’s choice? I doubt it.
But that is the point though. Just start doping up any child competitor from here on out. There is no repercussion.
Doesn’t matter if she knew. If someone doped her (which we know isn’t the case because apparently she’s saying she accidently took grandpa’s meds…please, but okay), then her people need to investigate how she ingested it and deal with them. In the meantime, since she DID have banned substances in her system she should not be able to compete. Can you imagine if everyone went with the “but it wasn’t her choice,” defense? If athletes are being unknowingly doped then the problem is even larger than we all think and whole systems should be punished.
It is possible to simultaneously feel terrible for Kamila, who has been used and abused by the adults around her, and acknowledge the bias when comparing her situation with Sha’Carri’s.
Yes definitely
Exactly, Sue. Kamila may not have known, or she may have known but not felt empowered to decline the drugs. So I do feel bad for her. But she had performance enhancing drugs in here system. Ones that are unquestionably going to enhance her performance. But the rules are the rules, and I can’t imagine how upsetting this is for Sha’Carri to see. It’s not fair and it is really gross.
WAPO published a couple of articles about this – with a focus on that monster of a Russian coach.
Completely unfair. Why is Russia always allowed to cheat.
The difference is Russia decided to lift their ban. IOC wants to ban Kamila. IOC was not involved in Richardson’s decision. That was made by Team USA. None of the same governing bodies were involved.
Anyone using her age has lost the script, and are arguing the Slippery Slope fallacy. The CAS decision is a slippery slope premised on her protected person age status, lack of rules regarding suspension based on her status, and ends with irreparable harm to her. No, No, No. The rules are not silent on banned substances, testing, and what happens when banned substances are present in an athlete’s test results. Are juniors allowed to take banned substances? No, this decision makes no sense. She says she took Pop-Pop’s heart medicine by accident, or cross contamination occurred – Straw man fallacy. It’s Pop-Pop’s fault, his medicine looked like tic-tacs. Do all of Pop-Pop’s heart medicines look like tic-tacs? She had three substances used for heart conditions in her system. Her federation/coach used her and are still using her. CAS should have been pulled her because continued irreparable harms to her, and others are being done.