MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is biased towards Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva as they are openly anti-Russian, renowned figure skating coach Tatiana Tarasova told TASS on Tuesday.
"There is nothing to hide here," she said. "Here is the attitude towards our country, the Russian girl, practically a child."
"To be Russian means to be cursed. That’s how it is now. I hate them," Tarasova added.
On April 20, The New York Times reported that 23 Chinese swimmers who took part in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics tested positive for trimetazidine. Later, WADA said that it did not punish the Chinese athletes for violating the rules ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, because it was unable to debunk the claims of the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency that the prohibited substance got into the athletes’ systems unintentionally.
The Chinese side claimed that the swimmers took the prohibited substance unintentionally and in small quantities, so no action should be taken against them. The Chinese Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation concluded that the incident happened because of spoiled food.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said in a statement on April 23 that an independent prosecutor should be appointed in regard to the recent news about the alleged doping-abuse by Chinese swimmers.
"Given we are on the eve of the 2024 Summer Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, athletes and the public desperately need and deserve confidence in the global anti-doping system headed into these Games," USADA’s statement reads. "An immediate first step to repairing the damage of this cover-up is for governments to appoint an Independent Prosecutor to review the entire case file of the 23 positive tests and ensure that justice is delivered in these cases."
Valieva’s doping case
On February 14, 2022, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) turned down an appeal filed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) against the decision of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to lift a temporary suspension of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva.
The International Testing Agency announced on February 11, 2022, that Valieva’s doping sample, collected on December 25, 2021 during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, returned a positive result for a banned substance, trimetazidine. This triggered the postponement of the awards ceremony for the 2022 Olympic team competition, won by Russia.
RUSADA imposed a provisional suspension on Valieva on February 8, 2022, but the Russian athlete submitted an appeal and it was granted the following day. The previous decision on the provisional suspension was voided by the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) filed appeals against this decision but the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected them on February 14, 2022. The Russian skater was permitted to compete in the individual Olympic competition and finished fourth.