ShellsandCheese

It’s so very Russian. But we are talking about teenagers. This brings back memories of Nicole Bobek’s metldowns, Surya Bonali dramatically ripping her medal off her neck on the podium and of course the dramatics from Svetlana Khorkina in gymnastics.

The ratings are going to go way up too. If it weren’t a bunch of teenagers involved - I’d be cracking up.

Eteri needs to smack some sense into Sasha; now is the time to be doing this. Read the room. Poor Kaori and poor Anna.

And Russia meanwhile, gets their way. They are going to fight tooth and nail to keep that Team Gold and now they’ve won Gold and Silver in the women’s competition. Trusova has always been a sore loser - she’s mad about not winning the gold, which I’m sure she believes she deserves because of her quads. Anna was my favorite of the Russian ladies so I guess I’m happy for her, although she probably can’t enjoy it because of the mess with her teammates and the ROC. Side note, this isn’t going to ruin the Olympics or Figure Skating - both have surivived far worse.

I totally called it! And I don’t think Kamila tanked on purpose - she’s 15, the adults around her failed her and she cracked under the pressure. I think Trusova is upset about not winning gold……

I know! That’s why I said I see why people are focusing on the other drugs but the banned one is the one matters. That being said, I’m calling it now. If Kamila isn’t perfect she’s not going to get gold. I didn’t watch any of the Russians in the short program but it sounds like Kaori should have been first and Anna second - and looking at the scores, it’s pretty close. I could easily see Kaori or Anna winning gold if Kamila messes up.

In some ways the Valieva controversy has been good for the Olympics. People are actually watching and talking about it - even if it is just to complain. There are people at my job who’ve never watched Figure Skating who suddenly interested….so there’s that.

Yay!

I think they did a lot of this. The easiest solution is people could just follow the rules, not cheat, and not abuse their young trainees - but I guess that’s too much to ask. Personally, I think women doing quads is a great thing - it was exciting when Midori Ito and Tanya Harding landed triple axels. It was exciting when Elvis Stojko and Ilya Kulik landed quads in competition. I know that men and women and boys and girls are different - but I’m also opposed to putting limitations on athletes or limiting athletic pursuits by virtue of sex or gender.

Wouldn’t the same apply to boys and men though? If jumping is that bad for little girls, does the same apply for little boys?

I just think the whole business is overly complicated and it’s a mess of WADA’s own making. I believe there’s already a process that allows athletes to file for exemption if they must take a drug that is on the banned list, which is also problematic in my opinion. At the end of the day if Drug A is very similar to Drug B and both have the same performance enhancing effects; how do you justify A being okay and B being banned. I think this issue will come up more and more as more athletes seek to get that extra advantage and push the limits. As for Kamila, the focus should be on the banned drug and her punishment should be based on that - but I see why people are bringing up the other drugs.

LOL. And yet every other judge had Kamila first and most had Anna second. Even the USA and GBR and Korea; so clearly the judging is no longer just an East - West split. Perhaps the judges need more education and training to properly score….maybe they should take a class on unconscious bias because I think some people subconsciously prefer the Russians because in the last they did used to have superior basic skating skills: speed, edge control, that classic ballet training - but that’s not the case anymore and the judges either don’t seem to see it or don’t seem to care.

I know the US has been trying to get it banned for some time, but again I think that's political because it's mostly used by Russians, Eastern Europeans, etc. I know there have been some supplements/drugs favored by Americans that Russia has tried to have banned. I truly hope (and I know that it's wishful thinking) that this is a wake-up call for these agencies that major overhaul and reform is needed.

Another way WADA has screwed the pooch but there’s also a lot of politicking involved. But I agree part of the problem with cheating and doping is that the rules are almost too complicated. Drugs should be divided by class and if one drug in that class is banned, they should all be banned. It makes no sense that Kamila was allowed to take two other drugs similar to TMZ that also increase endurance, etc - why weren’t those banned?

I don’t get why all of the other federations have never made a bigger stink about the lack of suspension in general. Also, I know I’ll be an outlier but I’m not impressed with Johnny and Tara. They’ve been tongue bathing the Russians all season and it’s super easy to pile on now, but they’ve always ignored issues with their scoring, etc. And now they want to talk about it, lol. Also, I feel that it’s very obvious what happened. Valieva has been taking legal (as defined by WADA) drugs and supplements to improve endurance, etc and you know what - it’s fine because they are legal. Someone obviously fucked up in her camp and most likely gave her the TMZ because it’s so similar to the other ones; either not caring that it’s banned or not realizing that it’s banned. This makes me believe that when all is said and done she’ll likely be stripped of medals.

In this case, I would say any doping is coming from Eteri’s camp and I actually doubt the Federation was involved. I know it’s Russia but their Skating Federation has never been to known to be involved in some of the shenanigans happening in other sports. All the more reason, why this whole thing is just dumb dumb dumb and so unnecessary.

I really don’t care about stuff that is not banned, those drugs aren’t the issue and it’s just a distraction to focus on it. If the drug isn’t banned - it’s not an issue. Period. At least according to WADA.

Those two aren’t mutually exclusive - plenty of skaters win gold without mental or physical abuse. Unfortunately, right now the top American women skaters just don’t have the skills or talent to match up with the top skaters from Japan, S. Korea, and Russia. Doping aside, I can objectively admit there is a certain amount of natural talent and skill that some of the top Russian skaters have and they would probably still be pretty ahead of the pack even without cheating to enhance stamina and endurance, etc. (Which again makes it all the more sadder, because they don’t need to do it)

China has no say in this matter and truthfully I doubt they care. They have no horse in this race, if it were the Pairs competition, I’m sure they would have made a big stink. There are plenty of things that are a reflection of China when it comes to these games; but the CAS decision and Valieva being allowed to skate is not one of them. Kamila has no say in that decision and I would argue that if Eteri had any respect for the sport or the girls she trains, she’d change her training methods and clearly the ROC has one concern and that’s winning.

Yeah, I don’t understand why everyone thought a new scoring system would change things; the problem was never about the scoring system - it’s about the people doing the scoring and how scoring was done. I’ve never liked the new system (ditto Gymnastics).

I skipped the Russians but I thought overall this was a pretty good short program; Kaori was amazing! It’s unfortunate that the US Ladies seem to be falling further behind Japan and S. Korea; at this point it seems that it will be someone from one of those nations who will breakthrough and break up the Russian stranglehold. Also, really enjoyed Loena and Wakaba. Here’s hoping Kaori medals, preferably gold.

I love their wishful thinking but if everyone has been able to overlook all of their issues - this isn't going to be the thing that finally makes the IOC be like you are banned. Less we forget that the Olympics themselves are happening in China right now.

Thanks! Sorry, I had read in a few places that she missed the Olympic Trials because she tested positive for weed during a pre-trials competition or meet. I appreciate the clarification.

Also, the USTFA absolutely could have fought harder for Richardson after her positive test - but they were like rules are rules and wouldn’t allow her to compete at the Olympic Trials.

LOL. 115 new world records! Reminds me of some recent Olympic Games 😂😂