WADA stated that there is no evidence of Tutberidze’s involvement in Valieva’s doping
Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Olivier Niggli spoke about the involvement of coach Eteri Tutberidze in the discovery of doping in Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. His words are quoted by AP.
Niggli said that there is no evidence of Tutberidze’s involvement in the situation. He suggested that a physiotherapist or doctor may have been involved. “It’s clear that this case tastes very bad when you see that the choice was made to sacrifice an athlete rather than identify who actually helped her dope,” Niggli added.
WADA President Witold Banka noted that Valieva did not take doping on her own initiative. “It’s never nice when we see that an athlete is punished, and at the same time we feel that someone from Russia, who is really responsible for this, escapes punishment,” he emphasized.
Earlier, Honored Coach of the USSR Tatyana Tarasova named Valieva’s person responsible for doping. She stated that only the coach could give the pill to the athlete.
On January 29, Valieva was disqualified for four years. The period of suspension is counted from the moment the sample was taken in which the prohibited trimetazidine was found – December 25, 2021.
Source: Lenta
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