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Don’t blame Cas for Valieva situation – blame those who have failed her | Bryan Armen Graham
The mess in Beijing is not down to the court of arbitration for sport but a collective failure of coaches and organisations
The decision to allow the Russian prodigy Kamila Valieva to take part in the women’s figure skating competition less than two months after testing positive for a banned heart medication has cast a shadow over the glamour event of the Winter Olympics that will persist for years to come, further tainting the reputation of a Beijing Games already beset by controversy.
Armed with a quiver of point-gobbling quadruple jumps, the 15-year-old Valieva set the world record for combined total score in her first outing as a senior in October and has improved from there, skating with a deeper maturity and sophistication in each competition through to the team event last week in Beijing, where she became the first woman to land a four-revolution jump on Olympic ice. But the entirety of her sensational debut campaign was thrown into question on Friday after it was revealed she tested positive for a prohibited substance known to increase endurance and stamina.
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