BEIJING, China – Former US Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon said Russian skater Kamila Valieva’s participation in the Beijing Games after having tested positive for a banned substance was a “complete slap in the face” for clean athletes.

Speaking to Reuters on Wednesday, February 16, Rippon said the decision by sport’s highest court to allow the 15-year-old to compete after testing positive for trimetazidine, a banned angina drug, was unfair to other competitors.

“This situation is super unfortunate and it’s also unprecedented that someone with a failed doping test is allowed to compete in the Games,” Rippon said.

“It’s a complete slap in the face to every single athlete who comes here and competes clean.”

Valieva, who finished first in the short program on Tuesday, tested positive at her national championships on December 25 but the result was not revealed until February 8, after she had already competed at the Beijing Games in the team event.

Valieva will not face a hearing for her doping charge until well after the end of the Games. Olympic officials will not award the medals until the doping case is resolved.

Rippon said Valieva, who is the first woman to land quadruple jumps at the Olympics, must be going through what he said was a “traumatizing” experience.

“That is child abuse. They are using the dream of a child as ammunition to pump them up with drugs,” said Rippon, who won bronze with the United States in the team event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

“Somebody on her team failed her miserably and now she is going through this whole circus and everyone else is suffering along with her.”

The Russians competing in Beijing cannot display their country’s tricolor flag or any national emblems or symbols because of doping sanctions.

Instead of representing Russia, athletes are competing as representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee under the acronym “ROC”. Russia has faced similar restrictions at previous Olympics because of doping offenses.

Rippon is in Beijing to coach US skater Mariah Bell, who finished 11th in the short program on Tuesday and is due to perform her free skate on Thursday.

Rippon said the situation around Valieva and the Russian team had been “incredibly distracting” for other skaters.

“All of these athletes worked their entire lives to make it to the Olympic Games and the only thing they’re being asked about is somebody… who had a failed doping test,” he said. “How is that fair?” 

Richardson doping case not similar to Valieva’s – IOC

The doping case of American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, who missed the Tokyo Olympics due to a one-month ban, is different from that of Valieva, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday.

The IOC’s comments come after Richardson, banned last year for a month for testing positive for cannabis, questioned a decision to allow Valieva to continue competing at the Winter Olympics amid an ongoing doping case.

“Every single case is very different. She (Richardson) tested positive on June 19 (2021), quite a way ahead of the Tokyo Games,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. The Tokyo Olympics, delayed by a year due to the pandemic, started on July 23.

“Her results came in early order for USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency) to deal with the case on time, before the Games. Ms Richardson accepted a one month period of ineligibility which began on June 28.”

“I would suggest that there isn’t a great deal of similarity between the two cases,” he said.

Richardson was expected to be one of the biggest draws in Tokyo after winning the 100 meters at the US trials. She later said her action to consume cannabis was the result of mourning the death of her mother.

On Monday, however, she demanded an answer from the IOC over Valieva’s continued participation at the Games.

“Can we get a solid answer on the difference of (Valieva’s) situation and mines?” Richardson wrote on Twitter on Monday. “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.”

“Failed in December and the world just now know however my result was posted within a week and my name & talent was slaughtered to the people,” Richardson said in another tweet. – Rappler.com