Olympic Figure Skating Recap: Valieva Controversy

By Elizabeth Cebulski

As the Winter Olympics are coming to a close, it is important to address some of the controversies in Beijing this year, specifically in figure skating. Russian figure skater, Kamila Valieva, competed in this year’s Winter Olympics. After being predicted as a possible gold-medalist, she led her country to a team gold just two weeks ago. However, after this great accomplishment for a fifteen-year-old and her team, news broke that she had tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance used to elevate the blood flow to the heart. This led to doubt about whether she had fairly won the Russian National Championship just weeks before the Olympics. 

However, on Thursday, Valieva made several mistakes and fell several times while skating, causing her to lose her chance to win gold. She finished fourth place, having Anna Scherbakova take first place, ending Valieva’s impressive performance and causing people to question how much the drug helped her with performances in the past.

This situation also created controversy from 2020 when Sha’Carri Richardson did not qualify for the Olympics for using tetrahydrocannabinol. This is a component often used in marijuana, not a performance-enhancing substance. Yet, Richardson was barred from competing in the Olympics for track and field; and Valieva was not, although trimetazidine is a performance-enhancing drug. This resulted in Richardson claiming a double standard, but according to the board of the Olympic games, there is not much similarity between the two instances. Although many believe this to be an excuse, it should be considered that racial double standards could be affecting the Olympics. If a white competitor is using a performance-enhancing drug and can compete, and a black competitor who uses a drug that does not enhance performance cannot compete, then what future does that have on the Olympics and the overall athletic world.