The decoration of the best ice skaters and figure skaters in the Olympic team competition was to take place on Wednesday. The gold should hang around the neck of the Russian Olympic Committee team, including the 15-year-old Kamila Walijewa. However, the International Olympic Committee informed that the ceremony had been stopped due to a “legal problem”.
15-year-old ice skater suspected of doping. May be excluded from the Games
As the insidethegames.biz website revealed, this legal problem was found after a prohibited substance was found in her – trimetazidine, which is strictly prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Commission (WADA).
Walijewa is not yet 16 years old, so according to the law he is a protected person. This means that even if she breached an anti-doping rule, she could not be officially identified by the competition organizers. The IOC has not yet confirmed the information about its positive result, but if this turns out to be true, the Olympic Committee may be deprived of the gold medal, and Walijew may be deprived of further starts during the Beijing Olympics – including the competition of soloists, which it is favorite.
Two-year disqualification with the maximum possible penalty for Walijewa
According to “Time”, she is also facing a two-year disqualification. This is the maximum penalty specified in the regulations. The minimum is a reprimand with no ineligibility period. For this, however, it would have to be proved that in the case of Walijewa the prohibited substance does not cause addiction, and the competitor’s case must be classified as her minor error or negligence.
Several teams of lawyers are currently involved in work on the case. If the information about trimetazidine was confirmed, it would be the third instance of disqualification for its use: in 2014 the Chinese swimmer Sun Yang received a three-month exclusion, and the Russian bobsleigh player Nadezhda Sergeyev was disqualified at the Olympics and was disqualified at the Olympics.
Walijewa showed up for training. “She was not removed from the Games”
– I am not going to comment on speculations, but of course I know them. Yes, yesterday there was information related to legal consequences, but I cannot comment on it at the moment, said the IOC spokesman Mark Adams, quoted by the AP agency. Meanwhile, Walijewa showed up on Thursday for the morning soloists training in Beijing.
– The competitor was not removed from the Games. However, we have to wait for official information from the IOC, informed the press attaché of the ROC, Olga Jermolina. It is possible that Walijewa may have taken a banned substance due to possible heart disease, but so far no information has emerged as to whether she was permitted to do so. And she would need a special recommendation and permission from a doctor.
Source: Sport
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