Kamila Valieva was disqualified by the International Court of Arbitration (CAS) for 4 years for violating anti-doping rules. The sport explains what awaits the figure skater in the near future and how she can return to the elite of the sport.
It is worth saying right away that the decision to disqualify itself does not close the door to the sport. A bunch of famous people were caught doping, served their ban, and then came back. American track and field athlete Justin Gatlin, for example, after winning gold at the 2004 Games, was caught on testosterone and received a 4-year disqualification – and then went to the Olympics twice more (bronze and silver) and even became a world champion.
And although the world community has a difficult attitude towards former “dopers”, no physical obstacles are put in their way. Is it that at the 2018 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) took an unprecedented step and refused individual invitations to a number of Russian athletes based on its own considerations, and in some cases they were related either to past disqualifications for doping, or for the fact itself suspicions of any violations, and unconfirmed suspicions. So, for example, figure skater Ivan Bukin was unable to go to his first Olympics in his career – his duet with Alexandra Stepanova had to wait another 4 years for their debut at the Games.
But otherwise there are no formal obstacles. Moreover, even in figure skating there have been precedents for successful comebacks after violations of anti-doping rules, the latest of which may be the case of Caroline Costner. In the summer of 2014, she received 1 year and 4 months of disqualification for “assisting doping” with her then-boyfriend, Italian track and field athlete Alex Schwatzer. From the case materials it followed that the figure skater misled the doping officers and refused to let them into the apartment where the couple lived.
However, even despite the long period of suspension, Carolina was able to return to the sport, take two more bronze medals at the European Championships and even get to the quadruple Olympic Games in her career. And at the 2018 World Championships in Milan, she could have taken gold, but after an extremely successful short program (first place), a failure in the free program followed, and she became fourth. Nevertheless, Caroline has remained in history as one of the main long-lived figures in figure skating and almost the best skater of all time, and the doping case in her context is almost not remembered.
This is all to say that Kamila Valieva is quite capable of coping with what happened. Even though there is social stigma, sporting organizations are unlikely to subject her to a formal ban on competition once the suspension expires. And this, in turn, means that from a legal point of view nothing irreparable happened. But, unfortunately, nuances are still present.
The main one is that disqualified athletes cannot train in state sports institutions during their suspension. In fact, this means that Kamila will have to pause regular work with her coach Eteri Tutberidze or, in any case, somehow modernize the format in order to avoid possible violations of the regulations. However, both options will mean one thing – a serious reduction in the training load, which in turn will lead to an inevitable loss of shape.
It is also important to take into account another factor – age-related changes in the body. Kamila is 17 years old, she is growing, and this process, even if the training load is maintained in full, is not easy. Since the Olympics, she hasn’t taken long breaks and almost never missed competitions, but she still lost almost all the elements of ultra-si. Even the only difficult jump that has survived at the moment – a quadruple sheepskin coat – is currently not possible.
There are no recipes for puberty – just accept it and wait for the body to return to normal. And in this regard, perhaps, disqualification may even be beneficial and provide her, albeit forced, but still a break to find harmony with her body and moral rest. If Kamila manages to set herself up in this way, she will have every chance to safely return to the elite and once again become one of the leaders of world figure skating.
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