Russia’s Kamila Valieva and the new Olympic doping scandal, explained

Russia isn’t technically competing at the Winter Olympics in Beijing this year. Instead athletes are representing the “Russian Olympic Committee,” under a nondescript white flag bearing the Olympic torch, a penalty imposed for the widespread state-sponsored doping program. It was designed to dissuade the nation from using performance enhancing drugs, removing the glory from the medals — but that hasn’t stopped Russia becoming embroiled in another doping scandal.

The latest comes from 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva, who went from being an international sensation after becoming the first woman to land a quad spin in competition, to now being the center of an international incident. However, unlike past cases of Russian doping, clerical screwups and poor timing made this unfair to the athlete, even if she’s a cheater.

It’s created one of the messiest stories in recent Olympic history, and with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the Court of Arbitration (CAC) effectively dusting their hands and letting Russia cheat forever with their most recent decisions. So let’s break this whole situation down and explain how we got here.

The 15-year-old skating phenom had never lost in senior competition prior the games. The 2022 Olympics were supposed to be Valieva’s debut on the international stage for non-skating enthusiasts — and she lived up to all the hype.

Valieva made jaws drop during her performance in the team competition, demolishing the competition in the women’s short program and free skate, with such a dominant skate in the latter that she finished 30 points above second place. Nobody was remotely close to Valieva’s level, and the nicknamed “Miss Perfect” lived up to the lofty billing.

It felt like these performances, paired with Russia’s reliable skates in other disciplines would lead to a clear gold medal for the ROC — but that’s when things got bizarre.

Moments before the medal ceremony in team figure skating, the announcement came that the IOC was delaying the presentation. It was unclear what was happening, though the speculation was already there. Russia was on the podium, the world knew about their doping history — and typically the only reason for something of this magnitude would be a positive test.

It’s here things started to get very muddy. It soon emerged from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, an angina medicine on the list of banned substances for increasing blood flow rate. However, the positive test didn’t come from the Olympics, but rather the Russian Championships, which took place in December of 2021. WADA blamed Russia for the delay in testing, saying the nation did not label Valieva’s sample needing to be “fast tracked,” meaning it had to be tested quickly prior to the Olympics, while Russia blame WADA in response. Either way, Valieva’s results should have been announced prior to the ROC traveling to Beijing, and certainly before competition began.

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency, in an effort to appease WADA, gave Valieva a provisional suspension, which was really a pointless slap on the wrist. The skater won an appeal in record time, with the Russian agency removing her suspension in the middle of the Olympics. It was abundantly clear this was all for show, and there was no real commitment to competing clean.

With questions swirling the IOC indefinitely postponed the ceremony, saying it was pending “legal consultation,” again — nobody really knew what this meant.

At this point we had a teenage skater who had cheated in the lead up to the Olympics, but who was unfairly uninformed about her status. Technically it would require far more time to confirm Valieva’s positive tests, likely lingering far beyond the competition.

However, the question remained: Should she be able to compete under a positive test? It’s typically a non-discussion for most athletes, who would be barred from competition, but the IOC and international agencies have always been extremely wary about penalizing Russia consistently with other nations. It’s been widely accepted that Russia routinely gets off easily for its pattern of cheating and abuse, and this time appeared no different.

Appeals and cases launched from all angles, Valieva’s Olympic future in the women’s single competition hinged on the Court of Arbitation for Sport (CAS). On Monday they announced that Valieva would be able to compete, because barring her from doing so “would cause her irreparable harm in the circumstances.” It was believed that Valieva’s young age, paired with the time between the her positive test and competition left the door open for an incorrect test result.

However, the court mandated that any medals awarded should be under consideration — so we still don’t have a clear answer to all this.

The entire Olympic skating program is now in disarray because of one skater. It’s been announced that all medal ceremonies involving Valieva will be postponed, with no traditional flower ceremony. This means that innocent skaters, who competed the right way, and didn’t submit any positive tests will be robbed of their Olympic moment to cater to one (likely) cheating skater.

It’s profoundly unfair, and NBC skating announcers Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir blasted the decision.

The question the world needs to ask is simple: Why is the IOC bending over backwards to continue to accommodate Russia’s unbelievably brazen cheating? It’s happened in numerous games, the country is already under sanctions for trying to cheat, and the entire process of allowing athletes to compete as the ROC was to allow individual athletes to compete, while not penalizing them for the sins of their nation. However, they are still cheating. There is no commitment to fair play, no desire to uphold the ideals of the games, and it’s ruining events for everyone else.

If the new normal is that Russian athletes can now compete after positive drug tests with medals being awarded behind closed doors, then what’s the point anymore? Are the games going to be clean, or dirty? The IOC seems to have made a decision: When it comes to Russia, anything goes.