Russia’s Kamila Valieva once again on the Olympic ice amid doping scandal – National

Kamila Valieva Aim for the top step of the podium she may never see as the Russian figure skater, now at the center of the latest doping scandal at the Olympics, wraps up the competition on Thursday night with women’s freestyle skating at Beijing Games.

The International Olympic Committee has said there will be no flower ceremony if Valieva is among the top three finishers, creating an open-ended dilemma once the event is over. There will also be no medal ceremony for the figure skaters as the IOC is concerned that Valieva could one day be stripped of her competition rights.

“There will be an asterisk against the results, because they will be preliminary obviously pending investigation,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “Do we want to not let all of this happen? Sure.”

15-year-old Valieva tested positive for a banned heart drug at the Russian championships in December. But the results weren’t announced until last week, shortly after she helped win. team gold medal which is also now in doubt.

She was allowed to compete earlier this week by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled, among other things, that she was protected as a minor and would be “harmed no matter what”. fixable” if she is not allowed to perform. But the court did not rule on the full scope of the case, leaving that to a more comprehensive investigation later.

The court’s decision cast a shadow over one of the events of the Winter Olympics.

“Do I feel sorry for her? I do not think so. I wouldn’t say the same,” said Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto, who finished third behind her short show. “I am focused on the competition. Right now, I’m really trying not to think about such things. Of course, there are moments when I think: ‘What will happen? What’s happening? ‘”

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Valieva has stated that her positive trigger drug, trimetazidine, entered her system by accident. But the World Anti-Doping Agency submitted a summary outlining two other substances she admitted to using, L-carnitine and Hypoxen – although both are legal – cutting out the argument that a banned substance has may have been taken by mistake.

Hypoxen is used to increase blood flow to the heart, and L-carnitine is an oxygen-promoting performance enhancer that is prohibited if injected above certain thresholds. When these are combined with trimetazidine, said Travis Tygart, CEO of the US Anti-Doping Division, it is “a sign that something more serious is happening”.

“You use all of that to boost performance,” says Tygart. “It completely degrades the credibility” of Valieva’s defense.

Meanwhile, IOC President Thomas Bach presented the Olympic torch to the U.S. figure skater who won a team silver medal as a keepsake while they waited for the doping case to be resolved, AP reports. at the end of Wednesday.

Officials from the IOC did not respond to a request for comment on Bach’s meeting with the team.

“It was definitely disappointing,” said Karen Chen, who competed in the team event and entered Thursday night in 13th place after her short show. “I’m really looking forward to standing on the podium with my teammates, and just sharing that moment, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels the same way. So it’s bound to be disappointing. ”

While suspicions of doping continued to rage around her, Valieva managed to go about her business as usual, attending every scheduled workout session of hers. And though she looked calm and collected during her short run of the show, the stress finally hit her as she slipped off the ice and broke down in tears.

Though her performances, including a swinging triple ax, put her in first place by almost two points.

Valieva declined to speak to reporters after the short show, although she will be asked to take part in a press conference if she ends up in third place Thursday night. In her only public comments so far, Valieva told Russian state broadcaster Channel One on Monday night that “these days are very difficult for me. I’m happy but I’m emotionally tired.”

Valieva plans to develop success with her freestyle skate, coined the “Bolero” by early 20th-century French composer Maurice Ravel. The captain of the Russian team’s “Fourth” is trying to do three of four jumps: a four-toed jump on her opening pass, a three-toed four-toed ring combo, and a swing three toe four toe ring combination.

Valieva’s show has the highest base value – by far – of anyone in the field, meaning she’ll have to miss some jumps and have exceptionally poor performance to land at anywhere but first.

Her closest pursuer, teammate and world champion Anna Shcherbakova, is planning to open with a quad flip, while Alexandra Trusova has planned five ambitious rounds in the freestyle skateboard. as she managed to overtake Sakamoto in third place and help the Russians get past the women’s figure skating event for the first time in Olympic history.

“If I skate clean, I have a chance to win Olympic gold,” Trusova said. “If not, then no. My goal is to skate clean.”

– AP National Writers, Eddie Pells in Zhangjiakou, China, and AP Sports Writers James Ellingworth and Graham Dunbar in Beijing contributed to this report.