Posted on 02/17/2022 3:03:16 PM PST by simpson96
Figure-skating commentators Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir couldn’t hide their relief after suspected doping cheat, Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee, stunningly plummeted from gold-medal favorite to fourth place in the women’s free skate event on Thursday.
As the 15-year-old Valieva’s low scores were announced, and it was clear that the International Olympic Committee’s plan to scrap the ceremony and withhold medals if she finished in the top three would not be needed, Weir exclaimed, “Thank God!”
“Thank goodness for all the other medalists to have that moment,” Lipinski said, to which Weir quickly added, “And to have done it cleanly.”
Lipinski and Weir have been outspoken critics of The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to allow Valieva to compete after failing a drug test.
Valieva led the competition after the short program and had the highest base score for her scheduled four-minute long program. She could’ve survived a mistake or two, but not as many as she made. The gold and silver were out of reach before her skates left the ice.
“I can’t imagine how tough this has been on Kamila and it makes me angry that the adults weren’t able to make better decisions and guide her and be there for her because she is the one now dealing with the consequences,” Lipinski said. “And she’s just 15 and that’s not fair. With that being said, she should not have been allowed to skate in this Olympic event.”(snip)
“On a human level I can’t imagine going through what she has been through,” Weir said, “but that doesn’t change the fact that she should’ve been nowhere near this competition. Every athlete at this level knows and understands that if you test positive for a banned substance you will not compete.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“Drugs are bad.”
Wow. Upon reflection I was thinking maybe I was a little tough on Alexandra Trusova. Then I saw the interview with her. She was still angry about not getting a gold medal. “Crying angry.” This girl needs some counseling. Or maybe serious time in New Testament instruction. Something...
I would still give the odds that Valieva was sabotaged at 50/50. At any rate, it was hard to watch her come apart.
The weird thing is that those 3 top Russian skaters all have the same coach, and somehow Trusova doesn’t seem to understand that SOME artistic element and connection to the crowd is still crucial in skating. Johnny Weir’s comments that her performance was all “nuts and bolts” was spot on.
Tara Lipinski was relatively restrained. Darn!!
Alexandra Trusova landed FIVE! But, she’s seriously lacking in the artistic dept.
What are the odds that, maybe, Valieva was ordered to take a dive by ROC leaders in order to avoid an ensuing medal controversy?
I think that they are thinking that they are very close to being booted from the Olympics altogether with this doping scandal on the ROC team (which was already a compromise for the allegedly innocent athletes).
By having Valieva not win a medal, they are giving the Olympic officials a chance to sweep this under the rug.
-PJ
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