Former Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon is coming to Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s defense, taking aim at the governing bodies that put the 15-year-old Olympian in a bad situation.
Valieva, the favorite to win individual gold at the Winter Olympics, tested positive for a banned substance yet Russian officials appealed her provisional suspension and she has been allowed to practice. A final decision on whether Valieva can skate in the women’s individual competition, which starts Tuesday, has not yet been reached.
But now the International Olympic Committee is pushing to have Valieva suspended, at which point the International Skating Union would likely disqualify the gold-medal-winning Russian Olympic Committee from the team skating competition and reward the United States with the gold medal.
“This entire situation is heartbreaking,” Rippon tweeted on Friday. “This young girl is just 15. She’s a minor. The adults around her have completely failed her. They’ve put her in this awful situation and should be punished.”
Rippon, an American figure skater who won a bronze medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, is no stranger to making his voice heard at the Olympics. Prior to the 2018 Games, Rippon raised concerns about former Vice President Mike Pence being selected by the US delegation for the Olympic opening ceremony. Rippon, a gay man, pointed to Pence’s legislation and policies that he deemed not friendly to the LGBTQ community.
OPINION:Valieva must be suspended. If not, the Olympics are forever tainted.
WHAT’S NEXT: Russia lifted doping suspension of Valieva, who tested positive in December
Valieva tested positive for a banned metabolic agent called trimetazidine and has since been both suspended and reinstated by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency.
Sports fans have expressed both empathy for the 15-year-old Valieva and much like Rippon, have directed their scorn at the adult decision-makers who put the skater in a situation like this.
The Russian Olympic Committee defended Valieva in a statement Friday, saying that she has since taken other doping tests – at the European Figure Skating Championships in January and in Beijing during the Olympics – that came back negative.
“We want to expedite this as quickly as possible,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said in a news conference Friday. “It’s a legal issue, and legal issues unfortunately can be very, very complicated. But for all those concerned – not just the Russian athlete, but obviously all the athletes concerned in the previous competition – we all need to see as quickly as we can a resolution to this.”
Contributing: Tom Schad.
