Makes no sense to punish other countries. Give them their medals
I feel so sorry for that poor 15 yo girl getting used by her country
The problem is which medals do you give them? Do you have a medal ceremony with only silver and bronze and then swap the medals later if the Russian team is disqualified? I guess they could disqualify them now, have the ceremony, then make them appeal to get their medals, but I can’t see them having the courage to do that.
The real questions are:
1. When did the ROC/RUSADA find out about the positive A sample?
2. The Russian championships were on December 25th and the B sample still hasn’t been tested. Why?
3. Valieva has said this contamination happened with a product her grandfather was taking. Even if true (which seems doubtful, since there were allegedly two other substances involved), does it matter? Unless someone else intentionally deceived her and gave her the medicine, she is responsible for what is in her body. Can’t we just take that as an admission of guilt and move on?
4. Why wasn’t the whole damned ROC team sent home after they wore the Russian flags on their jackets during the opening ceremony in defiance of the penalties they were under due to the previous widespread doping? (Didn’t want to give them an excuse to invade Ukraine? Don’t worry - they will come up with something.)
Sounds like the US Skaters want their medal ceremony before then snuff the Olympic flame. Understandable. But the bureaucratic impulse is to delay.