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Mikaela Shiffrin leaves Beijing empty handed after failing to medal in mixed team event

adminabig — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 07:15:39 +0000

2022 Beijing Olympics – Alpine Skiing – Mixed Team Parallel Small Final – National Alpine Skiing Centre, Yanqing district, Beijing, China- February 20, 2022. Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States reacts after losing the small final. REUTERS/Wolfgang RattayFavored to win at least three medals in Beijing, American Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin will have to settle for the medals she already has.Shiffrin’s Olympics ended with a close loss to Norway in the bronze medal race of the mixed team parallel event. It was her sixth event of the Beijing Games.“My teammates are what carried me through this Olympics,” Shiffrin told NBC. “I get people will say we came up short, but the thing is, to have this depth on our team, coming from the U.S., competing in a European-dominated sport…It’s just been incredible to compete today after a long Olympics.”It was two weeks to forget for the Alpine legend. She competed in all five individual disciplines but only finished two of them. She was ninth in the super-G and 18th in the downhill. She did not finish the slalom, giant slalom and combined races.2022 Beijing Olympics – Alpine Skiing – Mixed Team Parallel Small Final – National Alpine Skiing Centre, Yanqing district, Beijing, China- February 20, 2022. Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States and her teammate River Radamus of the United States hug after losing the Small Final. REUTERS/Denis BalibouseHad Shiffrin won a single medal of any color, she would have tied Julia Mancuso for the most ever by an American woman in Alpine skiing.“I don’t know what I’m supposed to fix,” Shiffrin told NBC after another did not finish result in the combined. “I don’t think there’s something to fix. It just went really, really wrong.”She skied better in the team event. She won her opening slalom race against Slovakia, but then lost in her races in the quarterfinals to Italy, the semifinals to Germany and the bronze medal race to Norway. She did finish all of her races though.Austria ended up winning the gold medal while Germany took the silver.KEEP READINGShiffrin hits back at critics on social media after another disappointment in Beijing

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Kamila Valieva could have inadvertently ingested grandfather’s heart medication

adminabig — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 09:15:42 +0000

Kamila Valieva, del Comité Olímpico Ruso, durante un entrenamiento en la pista del Estadio Cubierto de la Capital, Pekín, China, 14 de febrero de 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia NovozheninaBEIJING — Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva may have provided an explanation for how a banned heart medication wound up in her system.“I don’t know if the (successful) argument was this contamination happened with a product that her grandfather was taking,” International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Denis Oswald told reporters.There are no further details on how Valieva could have inadvertently ingested trimetazidine, the substance found in her sample taken on Christmas Day. After her result arrived on February 7, she was provisionally suspended by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, (RUSADA) which then lifted the suspension.The IOC, International Skating Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Ad Hoc division. After Valieva appeared via videoconference in a hearing lasting nearly six hours, she was cleared to compete, although her actual guilt or innocence in the doping case has not been established.Oswald appeared at the IOC/BOCOG press briefing Tuesday, where the main topic was the Olympic Solidarity program. However, most of the questions concerned how the Valieva case is tearing the Games apart. Valieva is scheduled to compete later Tuesday in the women’s short program, and people around the world are weighing in on the situation.The banner headline in London’s Daily Telegraph Tuesday was “The day the Olympics died.”Oswald, who headed the commission, investigated allegations of systemic cheating by Russian athletes at the Sochi 2014 Games, added that Valieva “presented elements which brought some doubts about guilt.”FILE PHOTO: 2022 Beijing Olympics – Figure Skating – Training – Rink Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing, China – February 14, 2022. Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee during training. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File PhotoValieva’s age was cited as the main factor in the decision by the CAS to allow her to compete. At age 15, she is a “protected person” according to the World Anti-Doping code.“The main element was the fact that if the athlete would be suspended, she would not be able to participate in the Games and the damage for her would be irreparable,” Oswald said, “whereas if she competes, even if she gets the gold in the individual competition, the medal could always be withdrawn.”The IOC has outsourced the adjudication of cases to the Independent Testing Agency and CAS to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. “We have to respect this decision,” Oswald said.However, he suggested that other athletes could protest Valieva’s inclusion in the women’s event. The IOC asked the ISU to advance 25 skaters — rather than the usual 24 — to the free skate in case Valieva is later found to have been ineligible to compete.Oswald defended the IOC decision not to have medal ceremonies for the team event — won by the Russian Olympic Committee before Valieva’s doping situation came to light — or for the women’s event.“We fully understand the situation of the team classified second and third,” Oswald said, “but you must understand that it would be very difficult to allocate medals based on a situation which is not final. Because there is a fair chance that you not give the right medal to the right team.”He said he had sympathy for the other medalists. “They are in a situation that is disagreeable and for us as well,” he said, but noted that the IOC cannot “prejudge the doping case,” which is why it is safer to wait.The damage to the other medalists is “not irreparable,” Oswald added, even if it is not the same experience to get the medals after the Games.FILE PHOTO: 2022 Beijing Olympics – Figure Skating – Ice Dance – Free Dance – Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing, China – February 14, 2022. Team doctor Filipp Shvetsky of the Russian Olympic Committee, team official Valery Artyukhov of the Russian Olympic Committee and coach Eteri Tutberidze of the Russian Olympic Committee. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina REFILE-CORRECTING TEAM NAME/File PhotoThe veteran IOC member from Switzerland said he expected Valieva’s entourage would be investigated. He said the IOC and WADA would “examine all aspects of this case and including the situation of the entourage of the girl, because of course you can imagine a girl of 15 would not do something wrong alone.”The “protected person” concept could also be reviewed in the future,” Oswald said, “if we feel that it is not correct that some athletes competing with adults are protected. Again, protected doesn’t mean that she had the right to do anything wrong, you take into consideration her personal consideration and that’s what the court did in that case.”While some people have pointed to yet another instance of Russian doping following the highly sophisticated state-sponsored program before Sochi, Oswald does not think they are linked.“My impression from what I’ve seen and heard is that there is no connection with the institutionalized doping we had in Sochi,” he said, “It seems to be a totally difficult case, but it’s difficult to have an opinion without having all details.”He said that doping system involved a large number of athletes and different organizations, but added, “I’m cautious.”Oswald said his post-Sochi commission tried to carry out the maximum sanctions according to law, although CAS overturned some decisions. However, Russian athletes competed in Rio, PyeongChang, Tokyo and now Beijing, even though they are under the Russian Olympic Committee flag.“The task of the IOC is not to punish clean athletes,” he said.Yet the IOC is being taken to task.“It’s surprising that people from all over the world have opinions and comments on a case where we ourselves don’t know the details,” Oswald said. “It’s very easy to criticize without knowing the situation. We have tried to do our best to apply the principles of justice, due process and respect the law. OK, it’s part of our job to be criticized, That’s quite normal nowadays.”

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Not cool: Jamaican bobsledder appeals for entry based on discrimination against smaller nations

adminabig — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 03:16:11 +0000

2022 Beijing Olympics – Opening Ceremony – National Stadium, Beijing, China – February 4, 2022. Flag bearers Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian of Jamaica and Benjamin Alexander of Jamaica during the athletes parade at the opening ceremony. REUTERS/Annegret HilseBEIJING — Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian claims it is not “Cool Runnings” for her Jamaican bobsled team as she appeals for entry into the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.Fenlator-Victorian, a bobsledder who was one of Jamaica’s flag-bearers at the Opening Ceremony has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.While she has qualified in the new monobob competition, Fenlator-Victorian wants to also compete in the two-woman event with Audra Segree as her brakewoman.The three-time Olympian makes two key points. The first is that European athletes had an unfair advantage in the international bobsled federation ranking system over smaller nations from other parts of the world. Those rankings, based on points accumulated at competitions, determined Olympic berths.With the pandemic limiting travel over the past two years, European athletes could more easily travel to competitions within their region. That was also possible for athletes from countries with larger budgets. Meanwhile, travel was difficult for those such as Fenlator-Victorian.In her filing, Fenlator-Victorian zeroes in on a Europa Cup bobsled competition in December in Winterberg, Germany. Two days of racing were supposed to count separately in the rankings. However, when the first race was canceled due to bad weather, the second race was counted twice. That allowed France’s Margot Boch to earn the final spot in the two-woman bobsled competition at the Olympics.There were 10 entries in Winterberg: three from Germany, two from Russia and one apiece from France, South Korea, Romania, Ukraine and Australia.“We fight so hard on a consistent basis to be heard, and oftentimes, we’re looked down upon because of our resources, potentially because of the color of our skin or because we’re not able to trail blaze dominance from the get-up because of the lack of resources,” Fenlator-Victorian told the New York Times. “But nonetheless, we fight very hard to represent ourselves at the best of our abilities and we’re competitors competing at the world’s highest stage.”Fenlator-Victorian’s other point is that there are 30 entries at the Olympic Games in men’s two-man bobsled while there are only 20 for women. As the Olympic Movement emphasizes gender equity, this shows there is still room for improvement.In the spirit of fair play, Fenlator-Victorian wants to compete while Boch also keeps her spot.“If we’re pushing for gender equality and equity and fair play, why do we have 10 less slots in the same event?” Fenlator-Victorian said.Bobsleigh – Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Women’s Competition – Olympic Sliding Centre – Pyeongchang, South Korea – February 20, 2018 – Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian and Carrie Russell of Jamaica in action. REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannFenlator-Victorian, 36, represented the United States in 2014 in Sochi, finishing 10th with Lola Jones as her brakewoman. Fenlator-Victorian’s father is a native of Jamaica, giving her dual citizenship.The Wayne, New Jersey, native switched her allegiance in 2015 to Jamaica. “I want to leave a mark by building something that inspires people,” she said in 2018. “It’s a bigger part of just my success and my career — I could really lift a nation that I have a huge tie of heritage to. I love this sport and I want to keep the diversity. I want to keep the competitiveness. I want to broaden the horizon so it’s not just the same five nations always competing. The best way I felt I could contribute to that is to go to Jamaica.”At PyeongChang in 2018, Fenlator-Victorian and brakewoman Carrie Russell were the first Jamaican women’s bobsled team to compete at an Olympic Winter Games.However, their hopes nearly ran off track when coach Sandra Kiriasis of Germany was demoted. She left and threatened to take the team’s sled with her. Red Stripe, the Jamaican beer company, provided the funding to purchase the sled, nicknamed “Mr. Cool Bolt” after the film “Cool Runnings” and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Jamaica finished 18th in PyeongChang.

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