February 13, (THEWILL) – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), is expected to investigate the entourage of teen figure skater, Kamila Valieva, who is awaiting a judgement on whether she can compete in the women’s individual event here after a positive drug test.
Valieva is a protected person under the WADA Code, because she is under the age of 16. As a result, an investigation into her support personnel is required automatically.
According to the WADA Code, there is an “investigation into whether Athlete Support Personnel or other Persons may have been involved in each case of doping, to ensure proper enforcement of Consequences, and to conduct an automatic investigation of Athlete Support Personnel in the case of any anti-doping rule violation involving a Protected Person or Athlete Support Person, who has provided support to more than one Athlete found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation.”
Following Valieva’s positive test for the banned drug trimetazidine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), restated its support for an entourage inquiry. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), will decide whether or not to reimpose a provisional suspension on Monday, with a judgement on whether or not an offence has been committed coming later.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has stated that it is constantly working to strengthen measures involving support people in order to ensure that athletes are safe.
Mark Adams, the IOC Presidential spokesperson remarked: “This is a constantly moving target and we are continuing to work on this. We have an entourage commission.
“We have asked and want WADA to investigate the entourage in this case. A whole range of things have been done.”
Two days earlier, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), revealed its own investigation into Valieva’s entourage, and WADA is said to be following suit.
Eteri Tutberidze, Valieva’s coach, has already drawn attention. Tutberidze has taught several skaters to notable competition success, including Yulia Lipnitskaya and Alina Zagitova, team Olympic gold medalists. However, the 47-year-old Moscow native’s harsh coaching tactics have been widely criticised.
People in the figure skating community have chastised Tutberidze, for the brief careers of the athletes she has managed.
The hashtag #оорутeриде – “shame on you, Tutberidze” – has been trending on Twitter since news of Valieva’s positive test for trimetazidine, a medication often used to treat angina.
Tutberidze also trains the rest of the ROC women’s figure skating team, which includes world champion Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
