caulfield12

https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/33267925/us-ski-snowboard-investigating-sexual-misconduct-racism-allegations Uh-oh. Impeccable timing. (CNN)The United States could prosecute Russian individuals allegedly involved in figure skater Kamila Valieva's doping case under the American Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA), the head of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart, told CNN on Friday. The RADA bill, named after whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov who helped expose the Russian doping scandal, was signed into law by former US President Donald Trump in December 2020. The bill enables the US to impose criminal sanctions on individuals involved in doping at major international sports competitions that feature US athletes, sponsors and broadcasters. Penalties for violating the law include up to 10 years imprisonment and fines of $250,000 for individuals and $1 million for organizations. "As more facts are developed, I think the Rodchenkov Act potentially could come into play," said Tygart. "If there's a doctor, or a coach, or state officials, sport official, who conspired to dope her [Valieva], then [the Rodchenkov Act] fits like a glove, because it is an international major competition, as defined by the Rodchenkov Act, which includes U.S. money, companies broadcasting, or sponsoring, the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) code applies, there's more than three foreign athletes, and there's more than one US athlete competing," he added. "Russia's doping, state sponsored and otherwise, has taken away from what we ought to be celebrating, which is the Olympic values, competition done the right way, athletes who win because they're doing it the right way," Tygart added. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/11/sport/usada-prosecute-russia-kamila-valieva-doping-spt-intl/index.html Are skating and the media that covers it complicit? Amid Valieva’s failed doping test and accounts of what sure seems like disordered eating and careers cut very short due to injury, it raises the question of what skating’s governing bodies are doing about this. The answer seems to be rewarding her. In 2020, the International Skating Union awarded Tutberidze its “best coach.” And if you’ve been watching NBC’s figure skating coverage, commentator and former skater Johnny Weir has been — up until news of Valieva’s failed doping test broke — talking about spending time at her coaching facility and the splendid time he had getting to know Tutberidze and the girls. Weir posted on Instagram in November, about how thankful he was to visit the school. In hindsight, these decisions haven’t aged well. “If people start to look under the hood of what’s going on in Team Tutberidze, that might actually be positive for the sport because it would really shine a light on adolescent girls being abused physically, mentally, emotionally. And now pharmacologically, with these drugs,” said Dave Lease, who runs the skating analysis YouTube channel The Skating Lesson. While he acknowledges that Tutberidze’s skaters are talented, Lease has been critical of Tutberidze on his show, specifically calling into question her training practices. He has spoken with guests about allegations of eating disorders and possible doping (prior to Valieva’s positive test). He says what’s happening at Tutberidze’s school is analogous to the abuse that happened at US Gymnastics and the Karolyis’ ranch. Saying that Tutberidze’s coaching practices are “abusive” has gotten Lease harangued in the Russian press. “It doesn’t take a genius to realize that there’s something aberrant taking place with Tutberidze’s training methods as opposed to training methods around the rest of the world,” he said. “I don’t think that any intelligent person who follows figure skating should be surprised. The clues have been there.” The clues Lease refers to are accounts from former skaters, but also Russian press interviews about diets, the injuries from over-training, interviews with coachesabout possible doping, and Russia’s history with state-sponsored doping. Since the news broke, former skaters like Adam Rippon and Katarina Witt have spoken out about holding Russia and the adults surrounding Valieva responsible.

There are exceptions. Eileen/Ailing Gu has already made $35 million from endorsements at age 17-18 before the Olympics even began…if she gets yet another gold in her next two events, she will easily be at $100 million (just in China) before she starts freshman year this fall at Stanford. It’s also telling that Almaty, Kazahkstan was the only other choice for the IOC this year. Then you have the upcoming Qatar World Cup debacle as well.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/olympics-chinese-mens-short-track-relay-team-advances-final-on-judge-ruling-confusion-132757145.html I give up. Between this and Kristen Santos getting wiped out in her final with no consequence. The Chinese skater hit the left skate of the Canadian skater whose skate was already 100% in contact with the ice...and who was ahead position~wise. And this is the third controversy already with China in less than a week. https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3166594/winter-olympics-fans-accuse-chinese-speed-skater-fan-kexin-deliberate https://mobile.twitter.com/mojo_ca/status/1490682488557031425

Remember those “the thrill of victory and agony of defeat” Wide World of Sports intros? Just the drama of many years of training being consigned to dust is part of it…it’s like rubber necking car accidents, in a way. Mikaela Schiffrin this Olympics, the redemption arc of Nathan Chen, Lindsay Jacobellis getting her gold 16 years after relaxing too early, Vincent Zhou out for Covid drama, Dan Jansen…maybe the exotic nature of some of these sports you only see once every four years like curling. A lot of older spectators think it’s now pretty much all about jumping and tricks, almost like a circus…whether it’s snowboarding or ski aerials or figure skating. The X-Games influence, Millennials, etc. For my generation, the 1980 Miracle on Ice, the equivalent of Russia beating the US in basketball in 1972...those were defining life moments in a way. It’s also pretty amazing if you compared figure skating finals from say Katarina Witt’s time to what we’re seeing now. But this latest Russian scandal threatens to take over and leave almost everyone with a bad taste in their mouths.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/10/kamila-valieva-quad-jump-figure-skating-women-controversy-unsustainable/

Little known fact. Jose Abreu’s name in the Cyrillic alphabet looks almost exactly like “Ron.”

Now it seems the Russians allowed Valieva to skate despite knowing her failed test results...that's expectedly brazen.

No medal for Shaun White in the half pipe, will finish 4th or 5th...

Which means Russia finishes 1-2-3 next week in the most high profile event in the games unless the US or Japan can break through...Liu or Chen. It's more about politics than anything else at this point, unfortunately. One obvious problem is that China is getting tied in so closely with Russia on everything that they're bordering on being forced to commit troops to the Ukraine confrontation.

https://sports.yahoo.com/ioc-getting-deserves-not-holding-112500008.html

Just broke the all-time best figure skating score by roughly two points over defending double gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu. https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/33256776/olympics-2022-know-russian-figure-skater-kamila-valieva-alleged-positive-drug-test “What happens next? Several factors make this an extremely difficult case, according to Greene. "This is one of the most complicated situations I've seen and I've done these cases for a long time," he said. Valieva and the IOC could come to an agreement in which she willingly accepts a sanction, including a warning, Greene said. If not, the case will go to a panel of the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which hears urgent cases on-site in Beijing. CAS will likely rule on two questions in Beijing: Whether to strip the Russians of the team medal and whether Valieva can compete in the singles event. But the case is further complicated by Valieva's age. Because she is under 16, she is considered a "protected person." This means that her case does not have to be reported. "If she were a normal minor in a case not involving the Olympics and not the greatest in the world at her sport, it probably would never get announced," Greene said. It also means that she could get a lower sanction. Instead of a four-year ban, Valieva could receive anything from a warning to two years, according to both Jacobs and Greene. What does this mean for the team competition? Here's where it gets even trickier. If the Russians were stripped of their gold medal, Team USA would move up to gold, Japan would receive silver and Canada would win bronze. But, according to Greene, there is a possibility that Valieva could lose her medal, but the other five Russian skaters could keep theirs. ISU rules say that a doping violation committed by a member of a team "in connection with an in-competition test automatically leads to disqualification of the result obtained by the team." However, it is not clear whether Valieva's test was in-competition or not. How does this affect the women's competition? If Valieva were disqualified, Russia would lose its chance to become the first country to sweep the women's figure skating podium. Her teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova would become the new medal favorites, while Japan's Kaori Sakamoto and Team USA's Alysa Liu could also be contenders. When will we know? It's hard to say, but Jacobs expects it to be soon. "I would anticipate that this whole thing will move very quickly," he told ESPN. "If it is actually a positive test that impacts medals, which it seems like it is, I would expect CAS will have a result within 24 hours." Both WADA and Valieva can appeal CAS decisions. Valieva could be allowed to compete at the Olympics and receive a sanction later on appeal. "Anything that happens at the Olympics won't necessarily be a final decision," said Greene.” "Miracles can be simply right in front of us, and what Kamila Valieva did is a true miracle. I can explain why this is a miracle. It is a miracle because after she completed her program she won hearts of the whole world," Maria Zakharova said. "This is phenomenal. We see again, in front of our eyes this clash of good and evil and the desire of evil to make the amount of good as little as possible, so that good would lose its power." Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Need fans/truckers to blockade all the MLB owners’ homes, lol…only 25% serious.

Have seen all the Best Pic nominations but Belfast and Coda. Still can’t believe Don’t Look Up! made it, unless they simply wanted star power for possible awards ceremony in person. Also watching: Moonfall….surprisingly not terrible in a way only Emmerich can pull off The Worst Person in the World 3.5/4 (Foreign language nominee) A Hero 3.5/4 Should have been nominated, but Iranian director already has two Oscars Anyone seen Jackass Forever? Have to watch that, reviews nearly all positive…you know what you’re getting, like a trip to McDonald’s or Subway (well, except for Greg775 in Lawrence.)

Irrational exuberance from GreenSox! Next he’ll be recommending crypto and NFT plays.

The WADA code treats Protected Persons “differently than other Athletes in certain circumstances based on the understanding that, below a certain age or intellectual capacity [they] may not possess the mental capacity to understand and appreciate the prohibitions against conduct contained in the Code.” In other words, the code protects young athletes who may have been too naive or unaware that they took a banned substance. As such, the penalty could be lower than disqualification. There is much that is subjective about that decision — hence the legal battle — but it is possible that even if Valieva tested positive for a banned substance she could maintain her eligibility and just be reprimanded. That would mean that not only would the Russians keep the gold medal won in the team event (the United States took silver) but Valieva could even remain eligible to compete next week in the individual competition. We'll see. A ruling should come soon. However, anything that merely reprimands any Russian would be an insult to logic. Any country throwing PED-charges around is doing it from a glass house, but Russia has taken things to entirely different levels. https://sports.yahoo.com/russia-at-center-of-another-olympic-doping-controversy-165809029.html Dan Wetzel with the best writing on this so far…with China, Russia and the IOC in the middle of yet another huge controversy. Talk about an ethical quandary here.

They’re going to have no way out this, as it wasn’t declared she was taking it for a heart condition or anything related to Covid. “Only a med student but this is a very odd drug for a 15 year old to be taking for actual legitimate health reasons. The drug treats angina which essentially only occurs when your oxygen delivery can’t keep up with demand which will almost always occur in patients with a history of coronary artery disease. Someone at her age and physical ability definitely does not have angina or coronary disease. The only thing I could think of this drug potentially doing is increasing coronary artery blood flow which may potentially improve her overall cardiovascular endurance and help her get through a program. However, there aren’t any studies that demonstrate this being true and honestly am not sure why the Russians would even risk it. The drug may at best have marginal benefits but maybe the Russians know something everyone else doesn’t.” “Minors under 16 are treated differently by WADA. Hopefully she doesn't get banned but the adults surrounding her do.“ reddit boards Also, if Nathan Chen holds on for gold against the Japanese, the US would pretty much be in a dead heat with Norway and Germany for points if you count golds as 3, silvers as 2 and bronze at 3. Pretty decent considering the perception is a disappointing performance because of Schiffrin (mostly). That’s also assuming the US gets the gold medal for team figure skating. Of course, it’s also going to open up the ladies’ figure skating singles to anyone winning next week.

We shall see. They’re taking days and days to decide what to do. We’re talking a 15 year old getting glowing accolades from American sports writers as already the GOAT in her sport. To Russians, this and ice hockey are the sacred sports, along with gymnastics. Nothing will shock. looks like Chloe Kim is restoring a sense of normalcy to these games unless someone really steps up the next couple of minutes…almost landed a 1260 just for the challenge of it, couldn’t quite hold the landing

https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/33254263/russian-figure-skater-kamila-valieva-tested-positive-banned-drug-according-reports The Olympics just got even more political. If they disqualify her, Putin just might be crazy enough to threaten war with Ukraine and his new buddy buddy relationship with Xi Jinping will quickly be tested. If they let it slide due to her age and no clear performance-enhancing effect (from a sample taken two months) ago…no matter what, the Americans or Russians will be complaining big-time, especially someone like Vincent Zhou knocked out of performing due to those inconsistent/supposedly stricter Covid tests here in China.

Wil Cordero comes to mind here as well.

Including a teenage girl online…pretty sure she was under 18, would have to check it. That wasn’t sexually related if I recall correctly, but more based on Bauer’s internet persona.

It’s a disaster for Russia if it’s Valieva at only age 15. But then one has to wonder about all these quads when someone like Karen Chen seems like she’s skating a decade ago in comparison. That said, they’re eight to ten deep behind her. The Gold medalist in Alina Galitova from 2018 that did like seven triples the last two minutes of her routine is still only 19. I guess things would even be worse in Kazahkstan with a coup almost taking place. Many are now suggesting a permanent Greek/European home that’s got different countries or regions for different sports … more decentralized and neutral. Then again, almost every winter host site going back decades will be unable to sustain natural snow by the year 2050 or something like that. Also glad psychological issues getting more attention with Biles, Schiffrin, Vincent Zhou, etc.

With limited fans, and partisans of one country…just not the same feeling at all.

Here in China, it's simply Eileen Gu 24/7. She has 26 and counting sponsorship deals, climbing into the mid $30 million range and counting before starting freshman year at Stanford. Then you have Kamila Valieva, arguably the greatest skater of all time for women at age 15, out doing the program of the 2010 US men's gold medal program in difficulty. Like Serena Williams beating Federer at Wimbledon, crazy. The days of Hamill, Fleming, Lipinski, Yamaguchi, Kerrigan and Witt are long gone...quads are in. The Russians are simply running laps around the field, like South Korean female golfers. Nathan Chen and Chloe Kim are off to promising starts, but Mikaela Schiffrin just wiped out a second time and Red Gerrard and Jamie Anderson failed to medal, and the US women's Hockey team lost to Canada while out shooting them 2-1. Is this the nadir of American Olympic sports, or just an anomaly...that will be sorted out in France, Italy and LA the next three Olympics?

The Dodgers have the biggest payroll and best farm system. They can send a financial subsidy and talent to get rid of him if they really want to.

Doesn't speak well about health of game for fans when this is all there is to discuss 1/3rd of way into February.