Winter Olympic Fans

[starlily]

Remember the figure skating team event in 2022, where no one was awarded medals after it was discovered one of the Russian skaters had a positive doping result at a prior competition? Almost two years later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport finally reached a conclusion. Kamila Valieva has been banned for four years effective December 2021 and her subsequent results invalidated: www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2024/01/29/kamila-valieva-russian-skater-banned-four-years-doping-beijing-olympics/72393824007/

And late tonight it was confirmed that Team USA will be awarded gold medals for the event: www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2024/01/29/usa-gold-team-figure-skating-kamila-valieva-ban/72403259007/

I believe it was the right decision all around, but I think it's a safe assumption that the adults in her life directed this whole scheme, so I wish they had received sanctions as well. Eteri Tutberizde has no business being around children.

As far as I know Russian athletes are still banned from competition due to the Ukraine invasion, but there is always chatter about finding a way to let them compete neutrally. With this finding in addition to the Invasion, I hope the IOC finally puts their foot down and bars them completely.

[wawa]

I thought they announced that they were going to have a new bullshit "russia, but not" allowance so they're still going to compete, just not under the russian flag. Like ROC but some new abbreviation. Lemme go look...

eta: It's apparently piecemeal by qualifying body for each sport, and doesn't apply to team sports, but it's happening: 

apnews.com/article/paris-olympics-russian-neutral-athletes-0d7ed42302de9755ae92d116866f2ad2

[Velar Fricative]

I'm mad on Canada's behalf because Not-Russia still won the bronze in the team event despite their skater's DQ. Canada still sits 4th; if they had recalculated the numbers, they would have at least tied for third and gotten a bronze medal out of this.

[jinkies]

Wait so they are saying that a 15 year old training for the Olympics, completely independently and with no adult help, was doping?

Sure, Jan.

How on earth is her entire coaching team not being held accountable?

[starlily]

Jan 30, 2024 10:29:14 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

I'm mad on Canada's behalf because Not-Russia still won the bronze in the team event despite their skater's DQ. Canada still sits 4th; if they had recalculated the numbers, they would have at least tied for third and gotten a bronze medal out of this.

I agree, especially since there is precedent for disqualifying an entire team when one member tested dirty ... it happened to one of Russia's relay teams!

I do wonder if the decision may have been different if Canada had been putting pressure on the governing body the way the US did. Many fans had been critical of Canada's silence the post couple years.

[mcsangel2]

Jan 30, 2024 11:46:41 GMT -5 starlily said:

Jan 30, 2024 10:29:14 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

I'm mad on Canada's behalf because Not-Russia still won the bronze in the team event despite their skater's DQ. Canada still sits 4th; if they had recalculated the numbers, they would have at least tied for third and gotten a bronze medal out of this.

I agree, especially since there is precedent for disqualifying an entire team when one member tested dirty ... it happened to one of Russia's relay teams!

I do wonder if the decision may have been different if Canada had been putting pressure on the governing body the way the US did. Many fans had been critical of Canada's silence the post couple years.

The Canadian fed is appealing this decision with CAS. Their argument is that the ISU recalculated the places for the Olympic singles event and also the 2022 Europeans (meaning everyone below Valieva is moved up a spot, the place is not being left vacant), therefore they need to do the same for the women's section of the team event.

BTW Russia is ALSO appealing this decision, saying they still deserve team gold, but I'm not 100% sure of what their argument is (I know it's something in the ISU rulebook that was created for speed skating).

[curbsideprophet]

I thought they did recalculate the scores and Canada was still 4th? It seems like they would have needed to disqualify the entire team for Canada to be third. Or am I reading this wrong?

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/01/29/kamila-valieva-cas-decision/

That wait officially ended Monday night, when Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, announced that IOC officials told her the United States will now receive gold medals. Early Tuesday morning, the ISU released a statement saying Valieva has been disqualified from the Beijing Games and recalculated the results of the team event. Without, Valieva, the Russian Olympic Team’s now drops from first to third, the U.S. moves from second to first and Japan, the third place finisher, is now in second. Canada, which came in fourth, and looked to maybe get a bronze medal if the whole Russian team was disqualified, fell one point short of third in the recalculation.

[Velar Fricative]

Jan 30, 2024 12:51:11 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

I thought they did recalculate the scores and Canada was still 4th? It seems like they would have needed to disqualify the entire team for Canada to be third. Or am I reading this wrong?

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/01/29/kamila-valieva-cas-decision/

That wait officially ended Monday night, when Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, announced that IOC officials told her the United States will now receive gold medals. Early Tuesday morning, the ISU released a statement saying Valieva has been disqualified from the Beijing Games and recalculated the results of the team event. Without, Valieva, the Russian Olympic Team’s now drops from first to third, the U.S. moves from second to first and Japan, the third place finisher, is now in second. Canada, which came in fourth, and looked to maybe get a bronze medal if the whole Russian team was disqualified, fell one point short of third in the recalculation.

They did, but it was a sus recalculation. It was expected that the Canadian skater would have then moved up by at least a point as a result of Valieva's points being redistributed - but her points weren't redistributed. They just tallied the final total to come up with the new placements, so that's why Canada is still fourth. But they're arguing that previous ISU competitions did see redistribution of individual participants' points if they were DQed, but that didn't happen here. 

[StrawberryBlondie]

Jan 30, 2024 10:05:11 GMT -5 wawa said:

I thought they announced that they were going to have a new bullshit "russia, but not" allowance so they're still going to compete, just not under the russian flag. Like ROC but some new abbreviation. Lemme go look...

eta: It's apparently piecemeal by qualifying body for each sport, and doesn't apply to team sports, but it's happening: 

apnews.com/article/paris-olympics-russian-neutral-athletes-0d7ed42302de9755ae92d116866f2ad2

The IOC, yes. But the ISU controls who qualifies for the Olympics for figure skating.