This is abuse, not just doping. She is a minor. Those around her are guilty, she is not. I hope she competes and does well as she is so talented, although how she can get her head together after all this I cannot imagine. I don’t think she should receive a medal if she wins, but at least she can show her skills.
I wished I had faith in the people around her, and maybe the system too, being brought to book.
Not unique to Russia of course. For ages I have thought sports such as gymnastics should raise the minimum age for elite competition to try and protect hot-housed kids.
I haven’t really watched any of this as it’s sport and I’m not interested in watching sport, but I saw a couple of short videos on a news channel. She is amazing. That’s not abuse of an anti-angina drug. It’s sheer talent and a lot of hard work.
There has been quite a lot of chat/discussion today that Women’s events, at the Olympics, in future, should only be contested by Women and not Children.
I agree there should be an age limit these kids are just being exploited. There’s lots of stories about kids being pushed by their parents coach’s etc that just don’t end well. Surely that’s not in the best interest of the kid or the sport. Gymnastics is a perfect example.
Caught the French figure skating pair last night and they were mesmerising. Worth a watch if you can find it. Probably after 7:00 on Monday evening’s show.
Ben Johnson was a great athlete who put in a lot of hard work to get to the top. So was Lance Armstrong. So was Marion Jones. But they were drug cheats.
Anti-Angina drugs (three of them in Valieva’s case) are performance enhancing drugs used to increase endurance and reduce fatigue. This means that athletes can train harder and longer. This is cheating.
