Team ROC letting Kamile Valieva skate with a Positive Drug Test result

The 15-year-old Russian Olympic skater Kamile Valieva was found with 3 different drugs (be more specific in this sentence, drugs is a very general term) in her system. The drugs found in her system were usually used with older patients who have heart problems. The drug found in her system (repetitive) is called Trimetazidine and it is known to give athletes more endurance.

The drug, Trimetazidine, had given Valieve a huge advantage due to her heart being able to handle more endurance. Many athletes had spoken out, discussing how unfair it was that Valieva had an advantage compared to the other athletes that had been working hard.

Valieva had been allowed to compete in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. However, if she placed in the top three then she, along with her other teammates, wouldn’t receive any medals. Many athletes had spoken out regarding the decision that the Olympic committee had made, allowing Valieva to continue competing.

“Dirty cheaters and we are accomodating them,” said Adam Rippon. “I don’t know how the Olympics will recover from this.” Adam Rippon is an olympian who helped America win a bronze medal with team skating in the 2018 Olympics. (maybe talk about who he is before continuing the quote!)

Besides athletes being upset about the fact that Valieva was still allowed to continue competing, she had also won a gold medal on Tuesday, February 15. Many athletes believe that she shouldn’t have received the medal when the Olympic committee had known that she had a positive drug test. (try to reword it just a tad bit cuz it’s a tad bit wordy) 

Retired Olympians had also come out and spoken on this issue. Stating that they feel a sense of disappointment in how an olympian is now being portrayed and how an athlete had been allowed to compete even with a positive drug test.

“I feel sick to my stomach. What I’m feeling is my whole dedication to my sport, to my community, and to my country — I’m questioning it all,” says retired two-time gold medalist Canadian Olympic skater Scott Moir.

Valieva had made a statement to the public explaining that she had mixed up her medication with her grandfather’s medication. The Olympic committee later found out that she had a positive drug test in December,  but nothing had been done about it.

Much of the community is also speaking out on how they believe this may be a child abuse situation. The Russian team had been giving 15-year-old girl drugs to help her heart endure more (were there multiple girls/athletes? also change the word ‘drugs’ to medication). Adam Rippon gives a statement on what his opinion on the situation is regarding the child abuse allegations.

“What this says is that the team around her are child abusers,” says retired bronze-medalist for 2018 Olympics Rippon (you mentioned previously that he was a retired bronze medalist, so I don’t think you need to include this)  who is now the coach of Olympian Mariah Bell. The only thing they care about is performance and not the health and well-being of their athletes. They are a factory that pumps out children who can compete, up to a certain point. It doesn’t feel like the coaches involved in the ladies’ program are coaches at all, but dog trainers; they’re running a circus.”

Will Valieva still receive the gold medal? Do you think she deserves it? What’s your opinion?

other than a few re-writes the article was really good! i also really like the pictures you took and where you put them! 加油！