Beijing 2022 is not Sochi 2014 and the case of Kamila Valieva is not “state doping”.
That is what the International Olympic Committee (IOC) maintains, which thus came out to cross the claims of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
“Until we know the circumstances of the case, I don’t think it’s fair to speak about (doping) culture,” Denis Oswald, the chair of IOC’s disciplinary commission, said this Tuesday during a press briefing in Beijing.
“I mean, since the last two years or so, I don’t think there have been that many doping cases with Russian athletes. Is the culture still present or not? I don’t know. But what I see is that the number of positive cases with Russian athletes is — I don’t know if I should say — has diminished or disappeared. I don’t remember in recent times having a positive test with Russian athletes.”
Oswald’s claims have value because the Swiss national led the IOC’s investigation into Russian state doping at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, but they are also important in light of the USOPC’s harsh claims.
The Valieva case, said Sarah Hirshland, CEO of USOPC, “appears to be another chapter in the systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia.
“Athletes have the right to know they are competing on a level playing field. Unfortunately, today that right is being denied. This appears to be another chapter in the systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia”.
Oswald does not agree with the USOPC.
“It is not established that there was a relation between this, which seems to be a single case, and the doping state of 2014 (...). It seems to have no connection between the two. No such connection has been established so far.”
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