Olympics

[Vrede too]

Shaun gets 4th. Too bad, but what a great career. And ending on the edge of the podium at the Olympics with competitors close to half his age isn't bad. It's not exactly fading away.

4th x 2, along with medaling 3 times.

Viral Olympics GIF allegedly shows Team China speed skater push puck to trip Team Canada opponent

... The moment in the women’s 500-meter quarterfinal was captured in a GIF that went viral on Reddit before being deleted and subsequently reposted.

The athlete in question was 28-year-old Kexin Fan, who in the GIF is seen reaching over the leg of another competitor to touch a puck, the marker used in the event.

Seconds later, the marker appeared to be flicked toward Canadian Alyson Charles, who then lost her balance and fell on the ice.



... Canadian skater Kim Boutin ultimately won Monday’s 500-meter race and advanced to the semifinal. Her teammate, Florence Brunelle, finished second but was disqualified for tripping both Charles and Fan, according to The Independent.

Charles was also allowed to advance since she was in second place before falling. She finished fourth in the semifinal, third in the B final and eighth overall, as per News.com.au.

Italy’s Arianna Fontana ultimately took home the gold during the final. The Netherlands’ Suzanne Schulting bagged silver, while Boutin took bronze.

I had to search a bit to find an article with the gif that had not yet been copyright-removed by the IOC.

[Vrede too]

Holy shit, did you see:

Watch: Figure Skater Kamila Valieva, 15, Becomes 1st Woman to Land Quad at Olympics

Shame about the fall, but otherwise .
Team gold check, now individual gold? ...

Even with the fall, she won by about 20 points. Landed two quads cleanly before falling on the third. Incredible....

Oh no!

Russia at center of another Olympic doping controversy

... Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian sensation, tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication, according to the Russian newspaper RBC. WADA prohibits the drug because it can aid in endurance and increase blood flow....

Explanation, somewhat:

Kamila Valieva’s controversial Olympic saga to be determined at appeal hearing

[GoCubsGo]

YES!

https://youtu.be/eXyBI5ftwLo

[Ulysses]

YES!

https://youtu.be/eXyBI5ftwLo

Where did the cats go?

[GoCubsGo]

I'm not the only apathetic American.

NBC's Winter Olympics ratings have ski-jumped straight into the toilet

[Vrede too]

I'm not the only apathetic American.

NBC's Winter Olympics ratings have ski-jumped straight into the toilet

I'm only tuning in sporadically and catching some replays on YT. For example, ouch:

French Skier Crashes, Breaks Legs in World Cup Downhill
Crashes galore as women's luge singles kick off at 2022 Winter Olympics
'Ice River' giant slalom wipes out 20+ skiers, including Mikaela Shiffrin
Swiss bobsled team crashes out during training run | Winter Olympics 2022

[Vrede too]

Sha'Carri Richardson — the US sprinter barred from the Olympics for marijuana use — says the only difference between her and Valieva is their race

Sha'Carri Richardson — the American sprinter who was not allowed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics last summer because she smoked marijuana after her mother died — says race seems to have influenced the decision to allow Kamila Valieva to compete in the Beijing Games after she, too, failed a drug test.

"The only difference I see is I'm a Black young lady," Richardson wrote on Twitter Monday after the decision concerning Valieva's participation was announced.

"Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines?" she added. "My mother died and I can't run and was also favored to place top 3."

Valieva tested positive for the banned drug trimetazidine — a medicine usually used to treat angina attacks but is also known to improve endurance in athletes — in a December drug test. Once news of the failed test surfaced, the Russian 15-year-old was slapped with an immediate suspension from the games.

But the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reversed the decision Monday, paving the way for Valieva to compete in Tuesday's singles figure skating event. The teenager is a favorite to win gold, though the IOC announced that she would be ineligible to win a medal until her doping case is closed.

Richardson, meanwhile, was barred from competing at the Olympics by the US Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive for THC — the main psychoactive compound in marijuana — at Olympic trials before the Tokyo Games. On NBC's "Today," Richardson said she used marijuana upon learning of the death of her biological mother a few days before the US Olympic Team Trials began....

To be accurate, there are at least 4 other differences:
Russia vs US.
Valieva's positive test result was mysteriously delayed.
Valieva is under 16, which makes her less culpable under doping rules.
Pot is not performance enhancing, trimetazidine is.

However, I won't deny Richardson's assertion that race is key.

Another comparable case:

Illinois Skater Calls ROC Doping Scandal ‘Triggering' After Cosmetic Debacle

Clarity, competence and consistency are sorely needed.

Whatever "should" happen with Valieva it won't surprise me if the 15 year old cracks under the pressure. Can you imagine?

[O Really]

I dunno, I take sort of the approach I had with the Lance Armstrong "scandal." Give everybody else the same cocktail and see if they can land that quad twice or win 7 Tours. I'd bet they can't.

[Vrede too]

I dunno, I take sort of the approach I had with the Lance Armstrong "scandal." Give everybody else the same cocktail and see if they can land that quad twice or win 7 Tours. I'd bet they can't.

Of course they're tremendous athletes to begin with, but are you saying that doping should be unrestricted?

[GoCubsGo]

I dunno, I take sort of the approach I had with the Lance Armstrong "scandal." Give everybody else the same cocktail and see if they can land that quad twice or win 7 Tours. I'd bet they can't.

You or me sure, but other top tier world class athletes?

[O Really]

I dunno, I take sort of the approach I had with the Lance Armstrong "scandal." Give everybody else the same cocktail and see if they can land that quad twice or win 7 Tours. I'd bet they can't.

Of course they're tremendous athletes to begin with, but are you saying that doping should be unrestricted?

I don't personally care if they're doped or not, but maybe they could do like the pro bodybuilders - have a separate division for "natural." I mean, by genetics, training, conditioning, determination, strength, endurance, coordination, nutrition - by almost any criteria these people are so far removed from being a regular average human that if all of them were juiced you probably wouldn't notice.

[Vrede too]

I don't personally care if they're doped or not, but maybe they could do like the pro bodybuilders - have a separate division for "natural." I mean, by genetics, training, conditioning, determination, strength, endurance, coordination, nutrition - by almost any criteria these people are so far removed from being a regular average human that if all of them were juiced you probably wouldn't notice.

That's the first I'd heard that there's a whole class of pro bodybuilding where juicing is encouraged. Yuck.

Natural bodybuilding

Your Rx will create millions of teens like Valieva feel that they have to take dope that's certain to harm them later in life. I disagree. This will also harm the sports. Pro bodybuilding fans are idiots, but we know that most of the public does not approve of doping. In your world where the best chemists win and retired competitors rapidly deteriorate, fans will be turned off entirely.

[O Really]

In your world where the best chemists win and retired competitors rapidly deteriorate, fans will be turned off entirely.

I'm probably a bit more jaded than you, but I don't think the hearts and souls of fans is all that pristine. Gymnasts and people in similar sports get used up quickly and are old by 23 or so. Football players last a little longer, but only family and friends care much about them when they're gone.

But yeah, I think Valieva should have been disqualified for taking a medication clearly not needed for medical reasons and which apparently could improve performance. I think she personally would have been better off to have been disqualified than to have to skate under the conditions she did. Tara and Johnny wouldn't even comment during or on her performance and she is generally shunned as a "bad person."

I also think ShaCarrie should NOT have been disqualified for using a legal substance (at the time/place she used it) that would equally obviously not improve her performance as a runner.

And wasn't at least part of Simone's problem that she wasn't allowed to bring in a medication that wasn't even against the competition rules?

Make the rules reasonable and enforced with consistency and good judgement or just let 'em juice.

[Vrede too]

I'm probably a bit more jaded than you, but I don't think the hearts and souls of fans is all that pristine. Gymnasts and people in similar sports get used up quickly and are old by 23 or so. Football players last a little longer, but only family and friends care much about them when they're gone.

Used up and forgotten, sure, but I'm bothered by the real damage to the body done by the drugs. I'm also bothered by CTE in football and have vowed not to support it monetarily in any way.

But yeah, I think Valieva should have been disqualified for taking a medication clearly not needed for medical reasons and which apparently could improve performance. I think she personally would have been better off to have been disqualified than to have to skate under the conditions she did. Tara and Johnny wouldn't even comment during or on her performance and she is generally shunned as a "bad person."

Her lawyers say that she was "accidentally" exposed to her grandpa's meds.
I honestly don't know how much to blame her vs the adults around her. She's in 1st after the short program today. Whether she wins or she loses due to the controversy pressures the outcome will be suspect. Sad.

I also think ShaCarrie should NOT have been disqualified for using a legal substance (at the time/place she used it) that would equally obviously not improve her performance as a runner.

Agreed.

And wasn't at least part of Simone's problem that she wasn't allowed to bring in a medication that wasn't even against the competition rules?

Idk.

Make the rules reasonable and enforced with consistency and good judgement or just let 'em juice.

Agree with the former, not the latter.

[Vrede too]

Her lawyers say that she was "accidentally" exposed to her grandpa's meds.
I honestly don't know how much to blame her vs the adults around her. She's in 1st after the short program today. Whether she wins or she loses due to the controversy pressures the outcome will be suspect. Sad.

1 near fall, otherwise nice, relative to others. The crowd was supportive, NBC doesn't think she should still be in it.

Russian skater had other heart drugs in her system: report

The 15-year-old Russian figure skating star who recently had a positive drug test result during the Beijing Olympics reportedly had three substances in her sample.

The substances in Kamila Valieva's system were used to treat heart conditions. They included trimetazidine, a drug forbidden by antidoping officials.

The New York Times reported that hypoxen and L-Carnatine, also both heart medications, were also found in her system. Those drugs, unlike trimetazidine, are not on the banned list.

Travis Tygart, who leads the United States Anti-Doping Agency, told the Times that the substances "seem to be aimed at increasing endurance, reducing fatigue and promoting greater efficiency in using oxygen." ...

Okay, that makes her even more culpable, but no 15-year-old comes up with a 3 PED cocktail on her own. Fucking Russians, same old story.

[GoCubsGo]

I was calling bullshit when I first heard the story. Triple so now.

Doctors agree.

https://time.com/6148528/russian-skater ... amination/

[Vrede too]

I was calling bullshit when I first heard the story. Triple so now.

Doctors agree.

https://time.com/6148528/russian-skater ... amination/

Seems the lawyers are only hurting her still open case by positing something so dumb.

[GoCubsGo]

I was calling bullshit when I first heard the story. Triple so now.

Doctors agree.

https://time.com/6148528/russian-skater ... amination/

Seems the lawyers are only hurting her still open case by positing something so dumb.

Those lines of bullshit are straight from the Putin propaganda ministry.

[Vrede too]

I was calling bullshit when I first heard the story. Triple so now.

Doctors agree.

https://time.com/6148528/russian-skater ... amination/

Seems the lawyers are only hurting her still open case by positing something so dumb.

Those lines of bullshit are straight from the Putin propaganda ministry.

If they're no more sophisticated than that then maybe Ukraine doesn't have as much to worry about as I thought.

[Vrede too]

... Whatever "should" happen with Valieva it won't surprise me if the 15 year old cracks under the pressure. Can you imagine?

Spoiler:

4th. Sad for her but probably best overall. Will they take away the team gold?

1. Other Russian
2. Other Russian
3. Japan

One take:

Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva was failed by the system, adults