Beijing (AFP) – “Icy”, “disdainful”: the day after Kamila Valieva’s implosion on Olympic ice, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach did not mince his words on Friday February 18 to criticize the attitude of his entourage, in particular the coldness of her coach with an already controversial reputation.
Thomas Bach was not in the stands of the Beijing Omnisports Palace to attend the free program of the individual figure skating event on Thursday evening, but he said to himself all the same ” very troubled by the performance of Kamila Valieva which he followed on television.
” Watching her break down on the ice, cry and try to finish her program was difficult. In every movement, in his body language, you could see the immense stress “, declared Thomas Bach during his traditional press conference at the end of the Olympic Games.
The boss of the body, himself an Olympic fencing champion, refers to the two falls, clumsiness and other errors of the Russian prodigy who ended up cracking during the most important free program of his career after spending more of a week at the heart of a storm born of a positive doping control.
Favorite for the title and in the lead after the short program, Valieva ended up with only 141.93 points and a total score of 224.09 points, synonymous with fourth place, far from her compatriot and training partner Anna Shcherbakova, crowned Olympic champion at 17.
WADA investigation
But more than the mental implosion of the skater, what took the IOC boss by surprise was what happened when she left the ice when she was greeted by reproaches from Eteri Tutberidze. ” Why did you give up? Why did you stop fighting ? Explain to me… You gave up… “, Assailed the coach at the head of a real factory of Moscow champions.
For the CIO boss, this scene was “ cold, instead of trying to help and comfort her. ” We could feel the distance and by interpreting his body language [de son entraîneure, ndlr] it was dismissive. I wondered how we could be really so cold “, lamented Thomas Bach.
” It doesn’t inspire much confidence in my surroundings, regardless of what may have happened, or will happen in the future, how (is it possible to) treat a 15-year-old underage athlete like that ? “, he concluded.
This is not the first time that Valieva’s entourage has been singled out: the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has announced that it is investigating ” support staff “, without further details, after the 2022 European champion tested positive at the end of December for trimetazidine, used to treat angina pectoris and banned by WADA since 2014, because it would promote blood circulation.
Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin regretted Thomas Bach’s comments, saying he should have shown ” more reserve “. ” Judging a coach’s behavior and his relationship with an athlete on TV is questionable to say the least.. »
“Rarely alone”
The Valieva affair broke out in the middle of the 2022 Olympics, when her positive control was notified to the skater just after her victory in the team event with Russia. 24 hours before the start of the individual event, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, urgently seized by the IOC and WADA, validated the decision of Russian anti-doping to lift Valieva’s suspension on the pretext that depriving her of the Olympics 2022 would cause him “ “irreparable” damage “.
” The question of those around her is extremely important, because (Valieva) is a minor and we need to be told how she can have products in her body that obviously shouldn’t be there. »recalled Mr. Bach.
” According to my experience of doping cases that I have had to manage, when there is doping, it is very rarely done alone “, he insisted.
This case also raises the question of the age of competitors, who are often minors in figure skating: should a minimum age be set? ” We are going to start discussions on this question, we must think about it calmly with WADA on one side and the international federations to find out if there is a need for regulation. »
The International Skating Federation told AFP that it would propose to raise the minimum age to compete in seniors, currently 15 years old to raise it to 17, at its next congress scheduled for June 6 to 10.
But for the moment, the most pressing question in the eyes of Thomas Bach concerns Kamila Valieva and her entourage. ” All the light will be shed and we will not hesitate to take all the necessary measures, even the strongest. “, he warned.