Russian anti-doping agency allowed Kamila Valieva to compete in Olympics despite failed drug test

Hi, my name is Deirdre Fitzpatrick and I've worked on our first Olympic team now for the last 12 Olympics and over the years, if there's one thing our viewers have definitely like jumped onto it is a skating scandal and this one that's happening in Beijing this week is especially interesting because of the age of the skater who is involved. And that is actually the first question will go through about five or six questions for today. He's the main ones coming into our websites. So Camila Valjevo is only 15 years old, so she's considered to be a protected person under the IOC and Water rules, the World anti Doping Association. So the question is, what would that actually imply for her? So until you're 16, you are considered to be a minor under these sporting guidelines and she would be what they call a protected person. So it basically means two things. The first one is that she can't be held personally responsible for any kind of illegal substance. And then the second thing is that she can't be named publicly or any athlete couldn't be named publicly in the doping investigation. But any other person meaning an adult who either gives a minor an illegal substance or who knows about an illegal substance and a minor might be taken can get in trouble. They can get reprimanded that could even face a lifetime ban. As for the minor, that person could face a reprimand, but not necessarily a lifetime ban and that's based purely on their age. So the next question that we've got has to do with this drug that's being talked about itself, so it's called Try Matassa Dean? And it's a hard drug it's given to people who have heart disease basically. So the question is, you know, you have a lot of people in Russian media saying it doesn't really do anything in terms of sports performance, so a what's the big deal or why might somebody be taking it as a figure skater? So any of these performance enhancing drugs do, like in short, they make you work out harder, they help you work out longer And a lot of times they help you recover quicker. This particular heart drug is designed for people with heart disease and basically it's to help with blood flow efficiency, but it's been banned since 2014, ironically, right before the 2014 Sochi Olympics began and that is the Olympics that cast a huge cloud over the Russian Federation because of state sponsored doping that happened at that olympics. So the reality is that it would be very odd for somebody, the age of this skater, Camilla's age, 15 years old and with her incredible health as you see in her athleticism, it would be very odd that somebody that age would be prescribed that particular drug and that's why so many people are questioning this right now, another question that came in on twitter, people were flipping out because the skater showed up at a practice for the individual event, like will she be allowed to perform? How can she go to practice? Well the reality is that she hasn't technically been named or gotten in trouble. So why wouldn't she go to practice? She's the favor to favor to win gold. She's the first woman at the age of 15 to have landed a quad in Olympic competition and she is at least right now a member of the gold medal team. So at this point there's no reason why she wouldn't go to practice. That said the number of cameras on her at that practice was rather staggering. So a lot of talk also about the coach of all three ladies of the R. O. C. Team. So her name is Eddery too breezy. And the question is what might happen with her and what's her backstory? So she's a really interesting person. She's 47 years old. And here's your random fact about terry terry back in 1995 was a member of a Russian skating team that was touring the US. She's an Oklahoma city staying at the Y. M. C. A. With her team across the street from the murrah federal building when the bomb went off, she survived that blast and if you go to that site today, her name is actually listed as one of the survivors at that site. So that's just kind of an odd connection we have with the terry well these days all those years later. She's actually the top Russian female figure skating coach, She is revered in Russia because she creates champions. However, she's very controversial too because her style of coaching has been considered abusive by a number of athletes who have chosen to leave her and by people who have just watched. So um she's been kind of basically controversial for kind of burning young women out either physically mentally or emotionally. So the question would be now, if the doping violation is found to be something that would lead to the metal being taken away in this team event, what could happen to the coach? Well, the question be going back to the original question if she's the coach of a minor and she knows of something happening or administer something, she could face a lifetime ban if that is proven at some point. So there could be some strict penalties coming a coach's way if they're found connected to one of these doping situations. Another thing people are wondering is supposedly this doping test turned up in december. So why now why are we hearing about this now? And why would something that happened in december? Even count during the olympics? And this is complicated, like a lot of this stuff with skating and doping testing at the olympics gets handled by the international testing agency. So that's the I ta you'll hear them talking about that a lot on the coverage and it's basically an independent group that the IOC runs. So the official testing for the olympic period started on january 27th as the athletes are coming in and as they're taking to the ice to practice. But they also look at the months before the olympics and they'll look specifically at really high profile athletes. They'll look at sports where there hasn't been a lot of testing and they'll go back to international competition and they will request and look at results from some of those events. So it could be that they went to a national championships that could have gone to an international skating union events and it could be that that would be where that kind of doping test might have come from and why? Perhaps it's only coming out now and nothing happens fast for the most part. So, you know, um once you get a positive doping test at the olympics and by the way everybody gets screened after they win um the country, your country can then challenge the results and they do that with the court of arbitration. And the court of arbitration actually has judges in Beijing right now for purposes like this. So if this continues to come out and if it comes out that this did indeed happen, the way everybody is saying that it did, the expectation would be that the R. O. C. Would go to the court of arbitration and then fight it that way. Now a lot of people are wondering what's going to happen with this medal. So we've seen the medal ceremony delayed for a couple of days and the only answer that the IOC is given for that is to say that there are legal reasons. Okay, so could they actually take the medal away? The answer is absolutely they could and they've done it before. So if they stripped the medal they choose to say the Rfc doesn't get to have the gold medal, what happens is everybody else gets bumped up? So the U. S. Would bump up to gold, Japan would bump up to silver and then Canada would bump up to bronze. So it's like olympic alchemy, basically you just start turning these medals. Has this happened before? It sure has. And I remember in 2000 and two actually there was a skating controversy involving say it with me Russia back in 2002 and it was the pairs event. And what happened was the Canadians finished their pair presentation and it was flawless like everybody watched and said they wanted however, the Russians were given the gold medal and so there was a big controversy over it and what happened was there were allegations that the Russians had pressured a french judge to score the Russians hire and that that's why the Canadians hadn't been given the gold medal within days. The IOC made the decision to give out two gold medals at the olympics. And so there was a second presentation. So there is a history of this happening for sure. And sometimes if they're motivated things can happen pretty quickly. Um Let's see another one. What do you think this means for the future of ladies? Figure skating and the Russian team, wow! Um eyeballs. I think everybody's gonna be watching these next skating events. I mean how could you not? They're gonna be watching this 15 year old who just a couple of days ago was really the star of the Beijing olympics, 15 years old. Pulling off an athletic feet landing the quad as a female and an olympic event for the first time ever. She's gone from darling to being suspected and I think you're gonna have a lot of people watching the ice to see what happens next. The long term question might be to see what happens with the R. O. C. Because the R. O. C. Remember technically these athletes are there representing the Russian olympic committee, not technically Russia. So they don't get to have their flag race. They don't get to hear their own anthem. If they make it to the top of the podium. What will happen with the R. O. C. From here on out? And that might be the long term question with yet another scandal involving doping that the IOC is going to have to start thinking about and we'll see if anything happens with that. So those are most of your big questions. I've got a lot of questions too and I think these next few days there in Beijing should be very interesting.