IOC member Denis Oswald says there is no indication of “state-sponsored” actions in the case of Kamila Valieva
Denis Oswald, Executive Director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has responded to suggestions that Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva is in some way involved in a “state-sponsored” doping program, which supports the IOC’s handling of the situation in the midst of the ongoing Beijing saga.
Valieva, 15, became central in a media storm when it was announced that she had tested positive for a banned heart medicine in a test taken in December. A ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday ruled that the teenager should continue to be eligible to compete at the winter games.
IOC official Oswald was pressured in the matter during a media conference on Tuesday, where he was asked about previous accusations that Russia was involved in a strategic doping campaign at the Olympics in Sochi 2014 – something Russia has repeatedly disproved.
Oswald has previously chaired a disciplinary commission investigating previous doping reports.
“It has not been established that there is a link between this [Valieva] cases and the doping license in 2014, “Oswald told reporters.
“There does not seem to be any connection between the two.
“No such connection has been established so far. Do you have a country in the world where there is no single case of doping?
“I do not think you have it, no country is perfect. It is not the result of what we have done since 2014.”
Oswald added that all disciplinary action taken by the IOC should only be directed at athletes who have been shown to have been deliberately involved in cheating, and that pure athletes, regardless of who they represent, must have their right to compete preserved and protected.
“We can not punish pure athletes, that is what we tried to do,” Oswald added, referring to sanctions imposed by the IOC and WADA on Russian athletes.
“In 2017, we did the maximum we could do according to the law. The penalty, whatever penalty you take, must be in proportion to the crime.
“We took the maximum penalty we could under the law. We suspended the athletes involved for the next two games and this was overturned by the court and said this was out of proportion to the crime.
“They limited the sanction, it was limited from one Olympic game rather than two. We live in a state governed by the rule of law and we have respected the law.”
Valieva’s case has seen growing hysterical calls for further sanctions against Russian athletes by some media outlets, although the facts of the case are still being established.
USA Today columnist Christine Brennan has demanded a general ban on Russia both at the 2024 Olympics in Paris and the next Winter Games in Milan 2026.
In response to Oswald, she also claimed: “Only once, would it not be good if some IOC leader at a press conference said what the rest of the world knows: that Russia’s obsession with cheating has thrown another Olympics into chaos, which has potentially ruined experience for dozens of innocent athletes? “
Similar outrage has appeared on the sides of Yahoo Sportwhere the author Dan Wetzel claimed that the official response to Valieva and her positive test has “cleared the way for Russia to cheat forever.”
But as Oswald noted in his comments to the media, “it is surprising that people from all over the world have opinions and comment on the case where we ourselves [the IOC] do not know the details. “
Russian officials, including in the National Olympic Committee and the Figure Skating Federation, have maintained their belief that Valieva is innocent.
The ROC noted that Valieva repeatedly passed doping tests before and after her positive results, which were taken at the Russian national championships on December 25.
Questions have also been raised about why it took so long for the WADA-accredited laboratory in Sweden to report the test result, which came only after Valieva helped ROC to the gold medal in the team event in Beijing.
Oswald revealed on Tuesday that Valieva’s team said that her positive test for the banned heart drug trimethazidine may have come via accidental contamination from medication taken by her grandfather.
(RT.com)
Source: sn.dk