Deputy Batalova: depriving the Russian team of gold at the Olympics is not unexpected
For Russian athletes, the news that the Russian team was deprived of gold in the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Olympic Games was not a surprise, since the story with medals has been going on for two years, said Rima Batalova, a member of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports. She reacted to the decision in a conversation with Lenta.ru.
Previously, the Russian team was deprived of gold in the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Olympic Games after Kamila Valieva’s points were cancelled. As a result, Russia dropped to third place in the standings, gold went to the USA team, and silver went to Japan.
How can Americans miss out on a winning situation for them? They will never miss this, especially since from the very beginning they were opposed to our team receiving medals. The fact that they act unscrupulously, unsightly, and unsportsmanlike has probably already been seen by everyone. If they didn’t immediately award them, they will never give up the medals, these are Americans, they will never give up theirs. Of course, it’s a shame for Camila
The parliamentarian added that Russia can appeal the decision within a month. In her opinion, the initiator of the appeal should be the Skating Federation and the Ministry of Sports. “I think they should protect their athletes somehow. We have this chance. Will this be justified, most likely not,” she shared.
The deputy noted that Russia needs to go its own way and independently hold international competitions, without hoping for any concessions.
“They open the curtain a little, beckon, and we go. This must not happen. They say that WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) approx. “Tapes.ru”) has weakened a little, and we run with the thought that maybe something will change. Nothing will change until we change ourselves and change. We must follow our own path, the path of those competitions that will take place in 2024, and show our results. Our Russia is so big, can’t we even find someone to compete with among ourselves? When there was the Soviet Union, it was even impossible for us to get into the national team – there were 5-6 people per place. Therefore, I think that we need to raise Russian competitions and move forward,” concluded Batalova.
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On January 29, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) suspended Kamila Valieva for four years. The period of suspension is counted from December 25, 2021, all her results for this period are canceled.
The doping scandal surrounding Valieva unfolded during the Beijing Games, when it became known that traces of the banned drug trimetazidine were found in the figure skater’s sample from December 2021. Because of this, the award ceremony for the team tournament winners was postponed.
Source: Lenta
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