WADA admitted that they have no evidence of Tutberidze’s guilt in the Valieva case

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has no evidence of coach Eteri Tutberidze’s guilt in the Kamila Valieva case, they said in an interview Associated Press top officials of the organization. According to WADA President Witold Banka, the skater did not take doping on her own initiative.

“We believe that the decision to dope was not the athlete’s initiative. The situation when an athlete is punished, but the one who is really responsible for this was not punished cannot be pleasant,” said Mr. Banka.

Agency CEO Olivier Niggli admitted that there is “no evidence” to directly link the coach to Valieva’s doping case. He suggested that “there may be a physiotherapist or doctor involved.” “Obviously this thing smells bad,” concluded Mr. Niggli.

29 January Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) disqualified Kamil Valieva for four years due to a positive doping test taken on December 21, 2021 during the Russian Championship in St. Petersburg.

On February 7, CAS published the reasoning part of the decision, in which it indicated that ecdysterone, trimetazidine and hypoxene were found in the sample. According to the skater, she did not take doping consciously. Her defense argued that the prohibited drugs could have entered Valieva’s body accidentally, including through the strawberry dessert prepared by her grandfather. According to the AP, this is the only minor athlete whose case was considered without the involvement of a coach.

The figure skater trained in the group of Eteri Tutberidze. March 7 to Kamil Valiev excluded from the Russian national team and she had to leave the coach’s group because she could no longer train with government money. Honored coach of the USSR in figure skating Tatyana Tarasova believesthat the coach is responsible for doping found in his players.

Read more about the case in the Kommersant article. “The Court of Arbitration for Sport refused dessert”.

Alexandra Goroshilova