A sample provided by a teenage Russian figure skater to an antidoping laboratory before the Beijing Games included three substances that are sometimes used to help the heart, according to a document filed in her arbitration hearing on Sunday.
... in testimony provided to an earlier hearing with Russian antidoping officials on Feb. 9, and later submitted as evidence in Sunday’s hearing in Beijing, Valieva’s mother said her daughter had been taking Hypoxen because of heart “variations.”
That said, it is always difficult to believe that the Russian sporting authorities have done anything innocent. You would think that if they were innocent, they would have disclosed the situation to the governing bodies before hand.
Nonetheless, there are many cases of young athletes suffering premature sudden deaths due to previously undiagnosed heart disease.
😂😂😂if my 15 year old child did drugs and committed a crime he would be held accountable. She is 15. Old enough to know better. If she takes random pills from adults she got a problem. She knew and her excuse that her and her Grampa shared the same cup is a load of crap. Did he dissolve his pills in his drink or something because otherwise it did not happen like that because even after absorbed it wouldn’t be present in saliva enough for her to get enough off edge of a glass. Don’t enable a doper and rule breaker
"It is of course possible that Valieva’s positive doping test was the result of unknown contamination of a supplement or some other innocent explanation. But another possibility, a deeply troubling one, is that a talented elite athlete who happens to still be a child may have been doped by adults around her"" (about half-way through the essay).
A third possibility is a bad test. As an analytical chemist through my career, I recognize that there are uncertainties in results of a chemical analysis like this. Indeed we all know that there have been many false positives and negatives in the testing for COVID-19.
But there are many other examples that had big impacts. One is the finding of DDT in many samples in the 1950s that led to banning it (and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring). It turned out that when better instruments were available to measure DDT the actual contaminants were polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). The earlier analytical technology couldn't separate DDT from PCBs. So the attacks on DDT were ill considered.
A great analysis Roger. I also believe that the appeal against the lifting of the provisional suspension being lifted... involved IOC, WADA and ISU! What a burden for a young athlete. Still more to be done on these procedures.
There is a possible innocent explanation. The girl may have real serious heart problems:
"Kamila Valieva’s sample included three substances sometimes used to help the heart. Only one is banned." By Tariq Panja | Feb. 17, 2022
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/sports/olympics/valieva-drug-test-heart-medications.html
A sample provided by a teenage Russian figure skater to an antidoping laboratory before the Beijing Games included three substances that are sometimes used to help the heart, according to a document filed in her arbitration hearing on Sunday.
... in testimony provided to an earlier hearing with Russian antidoping officials on Feb. 9, and later submitted as evidence in Sunday’s hearing in Beijing, Valieva’s mother said her daughter had been taking Hypoxen because of heart “variations.”
That said, it is always difficult to believe that the Russian sporting authorities have done anything innocent. You would think that if they were innocent, they would have disclosed the situation to the governing bodies before hand.
Nonetheless, there are many cases of young athletes suffering premature sudden deaths due to previously undiagnosed heart disease.
😂😂😂if my 15 year old child did drugs and committed a crime he would be held accountable. She is 15. Old enough to know better. If she takes random pills from adults she got a problem. She knew and her excuse that her and her Grampa shared the same cup is a load of crap. Did he dissolve his pills in his drink or something because otherwise it did not happen like that because even after absorbed it wouldn’t be present in saliva enough for her to get enough off edge of a glass. Don’t enable a doper and rule breaker
"It is of course possible that Valieva’s positive doping test was the result of unknown contamination of a supplement or some other innocent explanation. But another possibility, a deeply troubling one, is that a talented elite athlete who happens to still be a child may have been doped by adults around her"" (about half-way through the essay).
A third possibility is a bad test. As an analytical chemist through my career, I recognize that there are uncertainties in results of a chemical analysis like this. Indeed we all know that there have been many false positives and negatives in the testing for COVID-19.
But there are many other examples that had big impacts. One is the finding of DDT in many samples in the 1950s that led to banning it (and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring). It turned out that when better instruments were available to measure DDT the actual contaminants were polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). The earlier analytical technology couldn't separate DDT from PCBs. So the attacks on DDT were ill considered.
A great analysis Roger. I also believe that the appeal against the lifting of the provisional suspension being lifted... involved IOC, WADA and ISU! What a burden for a young athlete. Still more to be done on these procedures.
Thank you so much for writing a clear, concise article that has changed my perspective on this issue. This story needs to be told more broadly.