‘Horrible misunderstanding’ - IOC honorary member on doping allegations against Russian athlete

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International Olympic Committee honorary member Vitaly Smirnov called the doping allegations surrounding 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva a ‘horrible misunderstanding,’ during an interview in Moscow on Saturday.

“This is some kind of horrible misunderstanding… If you imagine that she will not be allowed to compete in individual competition, then who will compensate her for those expectations? Who? What will happen to her in four years? Her hopes are ruined,” said Smirnov.

The IOC honorary member confirmed that he shares the position of “the majority of Russian citizens” who reject the allegations.

The figure skater’s fate is to be decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport before February 15, when the athlete is expected to compete.

According to the Russian Olympic Committee, the positive doping test of 15 years-old Valieva does not apply to the period of the Olympic Games and the figure skater repeatedly passed doping tests before and after December 25, including the period when she was in Beijing during the figure skating competition, and all results were negative.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Wednesday that the medal ceremony for figure skaters would be delayed due to “legal issues.”

Russia’s anti-doping agency, RUSADA, provisionally suspended the 15-year-old figure skater from competing in her next event, the women’s single, before lifting the ban on Wednesday. Both the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have appealed to CAS against lifting the suspension before the next event due to start on Tuesday.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Vitaly Smirnov, Honorary Member of International Olympic Committee (Russian): “I fully share position of the majority of our citizens, who totally reject this [allegations]. This girl is a bright and original talent, who found herself victim of the circumstances.”

SOT, Vitaly Smirnov, Honorary Member of International Olympic Committee (Russian): “I have a feeling that this is some kind of horrible misunderstanding. Look how many athletes were punished and how many were later excused. And how can we get it all back? If you imagine that she will not be allowed to compete in individual competition, then who will compensate her for those expectations? Who? What will happen to her in four years? Her hopes are ruined. How will she live with this? How whose people will live knowing that they stole this opportunity from such a beautiful girl, if they have a sense of conscience? I don’t understand it at all. Like at all. I think we should all be proud of such people [like her].”

SOT, Vitaly Smirnov, Honorary Member of International Olympic Committee (Russian): “Everyone is already intimidated [by doping tests]. You know, it is like an infection. Everyone is so frightened that I can’t even imagine that anyone would [do it on purpose]… A person should understand and be aware of the consequences. Anyway, I think that this [allegations] is probably a misunderstanding. I can’t understand it.”

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