Kamila Valieva’s Doctor Has Long Worked in the Shadows of Sport

Any Russian decision was sure to be appealed to the court anyway, further prolonging the wait for the official results of the Olympic team figure skating event. Valieva led the Russians to first place, but the medal ceremony was placed on hold after her failed test was made public. The United States finished second in that competition, with Japan in third.

In a hint about how the Russian skating federation would react to an appeal seeking to ban Valieva, if it doesn’t ban her on its own, Russian lawmakers introduced a bill in parliament that seeks to nullify any Court of Arbitration for Sport decisions regarding Russian athletes.

Regarding the Valieva case, Tygart said, “This is a simple case that should have been done in a few days, but it’s so far from being over.”

Valieva’s initial explanation for her failed test, according to an International Olympic Committee official, was that it might have resulted from contamination, possibly from the heart medication her grandfather was taking. Since then, Dr. Shvetsky has submitted to hours of interviews with Russian drug authorities, he said in his interview with Literaturnaya Gazeta. He said he had provided “a set of circumstantial facts that may determine the motive and possible malicious intent.”

Motive in the case is the most important thing, he said in an email this week, and he doesn’t believe that Valieva had a motive to use the heart drug.

Xenon gas to enhance performance

Throughout Dr. Shvetsky’s career, he has stayed one step ahead of antidoping officials, creating ways to improve his athletes’ performance that would soon be illegal, or in one case, already was.

In the years before he joined the skating program, he provided banned intravenous injections to Russian rowers and was given a two-year doping suspension after first denying that he had anything to do with the procedure.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/sports/olympics/kamila-valieva-drug-test-doctor.html