Russia Sports News:

Disqualification of Kamila Valieva CAS destroys world sport, by Elena Karaeva for RiaNovosti. 01.29.2024.

The current phase of the Olympic movement is politicized by the United States - to a fault.
After a de facto ban on our participation in the Games, the CAS ( Court of Arbitration for Sport ) decided to disqualify one of the strongest figure skaters in the world, our Kamila Valieva for four years.

Start of ineligibility - date of discovery of the “prohibited substance”: December 25, 2021. Accordingly, Kamila will be deprived of all other people’s awards.

The discovery became known during the Beijing Olympics, exactly between the team triumph of the Russian figure skaters and the rollback of the individual program. By a strange coincidence (it happens!) Naturally, American athletes came second in the discipline.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the press is now - and just as understandably - rejoicing, predicting exactly how the Russians will be deprived of Olympic gold. Giving it to American women. Actually, if I wanted to clarify the names of the customers and beneficiaries of this whole story, I didn’t have to look far, nor did I have to think long about who might benefit from this scandal. Today. And who benefited then?

The reasons for creating an artificial and completely meaningless hype are also understandable; in first, second, third and so on places is the desire to “bury” stronger rivals. The court was given the opportunity to eliminate America's competitors . In the States, sport, needless to say, is as pure and pure as a baby’s tear.

And the incidents of cyclist Lance Armstrong or the same Carl Lewis, who were caught regularly and regularly using prohibited substances, but were not only then allowed to participate in competitions, but also won medals in them, are nothing more than special cases and “shortcomings of local work.”

Because this is America and because there is always a “different situation”. We agree with the first statement. Yes, the United States, suffering from the “lonely giant” syndrome, behaved and behaves like a hooligan from the gateway, whom they are afraid to cross. And no, there is no “other situation”, what then, what today is not, and could not be. Either you win by working and denying yourself everything for the sake of winning, or you pump yourself up on pills. Armstrong beat his chest, shouting: “I never used any doping!” True, they pinned him down, because it was no longer possible to pretend that everything was OK.

And Lewis absolutely got away with it. His explanation that he "accidentally ate the wrong thing" was accepted as evidence of ignorance and lack of malice. And in general, according to the Americans, the athlete has taken the path of correction. Therefore, international anti-doping authorities have already lined up so as not to interfere with Lewis’s correction.
The attitude towards Kamila Valieva was organized according to a completely different scenario, and I can’t even call it anything other than bullying.

Starting from the date of publication of the test results (remember that our figure skater was 15 years old at that time) and ending with a powerful campaign in the media and social networks to destabilize the girl on the eve of the most important competition.

By the way, in addition to Lewis “Whoever Remembers the Old, Look Away,” who came out unscathed, one can also name Simone Biles . She was such a champion, the best, the coolest, “beating all her rivals in one fell swoop,” who was unable to cope with something so mental, which led to her self-withdrawal from the competition at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago.

Then, and very casually, the Biles-friendly press said that “due to the rules for the import of psychotropic drugs into the Land of the Rising Sun, the athlete was deprived of taking her usual medications.” And then the gymnast herself said that she swallowed, in particular, amphetamine - “on a doctor’s prescription and for therapeutic purposes,” and so, of course, she believes in “clean sport.” Of course, no possible claims reached any CAS, and all those who, by virtue of their positions - and receiving astronomical salaries - should, in theory, defend “sport without tablets,” said with one voice: “This is our girl, and we are her You haven’t even seen the drugs, and anyway, why are you bothered?”

To such a unanimous “no,” of course, there is no Court of Arbitration for Sport. Those who are dissatisfied can cool off and drink some water.

CAS, by its own will or under pressure, has turned into an instrument for settling scores, that is, into a repressive apparatus, to call a spade a spade. And we couldn’t expect any other decision from the repressive apparatus regarding our athlete. And in general, if you understand that after the abolition of our culture came the turn of the abolition of our sport, then this news did not cause any surprise, and it could not have caused any.

And most importantly, today’s document has a very limited geographical effect, since it is definitely not recognized here and Kamila will continue, if she deems it necessary, to compete where and when she likes it.

Our happiness - and this word can be used here without embarrassment or doubt - is that our sport, following the economy, becomes sovereign, that is, independent from other people's political games, as well as from the desire to conform to someone else's agenda. And also from the system of medal, team and other classifications. The time for measuring with someone else's yardstick has expired.
And this is actually very cool.

And Kamila, our beloved champion, can only wish new victories today. Ours - and therefore real.

https://ria.ru/20240129/valieva-1924232943.html