Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva said she caught the odd gaze of other athletes following the start of the doping scandal at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
“I reviewed the free program at the Olympics three times. With tears in your eyes. I looked and left. I realized that if I had arrived in Moscow a few days earlier, a change of scenery would have helped me breathe.
You’re fresh in team competition. Dropped – it doesn’t matter. And then you’re in ten days, a burden appears behind you. You realize that some athletes turn around and look weird. You understand that she is a strong girl, but it was very difficult to jump because of what you built for yourself and what happened to me.
A change of scenery could not have been better, ”said Valiyeva on the Free Program podcast on Channel One.
Recall that during the 2022 Olympic Games, a doping scandal broke out around the athlete. A banned substance was found in a sample that Valieva gave in December 2021. They wanted to remove him from participating in the Games. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) allowed the athlete to participate in the individual tournament of the Games, where he finished fourth.
Valieva became the winner of the Olympics in team competitions. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the results of the competition as preliminary, and the award ceremony of the winners of the team tournament was postponed until the investigation into the incident was completed. The file of the 16-year-old Russian woman is currently in the CAS.
On January 13, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) notified her of the organization’s court decision to acquit Valieva, who was not guilty of violating its anti-doping rule. But the athlete was deprived of the gold medal of the Russian Championship in 2021.
formerly Valieva let down season results.