On March 8, 2022, I wrote a devotional about the 2022 Winter Olympics and scandals that have erupted through the years. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland has finally decided about something that occurred at the ’22 Olympics.
Kamila Valieva was a Russian figure skater. She was competing with her team at the Winter Olympics held in Beijing. At the end of competition, Russia had won the gold, the USA won silver, and Japan won bronze. Athletes are monitored carefully for doping. On December 25, 2021, Valieva provided a sample that tested positive for a banned drug, trimetazidine.
Trimetazidine “is a medicine used to prevent angina attacks, which are sudden pains to the chest, jaw and back brought on by physical effort, due to reduced blood flow to the heart.”1 When taken by a person without heart issues, it becomes a metabolism modulator and performance enhancer. In short, it causes the heart to perform at peak efficiency, reducing natural fatigue and increasing stamina. It is on the list of banned drugs for athletes.
The Russian doping committee knew this was in her system but allowed her to compete anyway. She was 15 at the time and the committee felt that Valieva had “accidentally” taken her grandfather’s heart medication. At such a young age, she shouldn’t be held accountable. A day after the Russians had won, the doping committee revealed their findings. This plunged Valieva into a two-year battle and investigation and caused the Russian doping committee to be looked at with suspicion.
“Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it,” CAS said in a statement announcing the decision Monday, January 29th, 2024, “the CAS panel concluded that
Ms. Valieva was not able to establish, on the balance of probabilities and on the basis of the evidence before the Panel, that she had not committed the (violation) intentionally.”2 The CAS “ruled that Valieva violated anti-doping rules and instituted a four-year ban dating from Dec. 25, 2021. As a result, all of Valieva’s results from that date forward, including at the 2022 Olympic Games, have been voided.”3
“As a result of the ban, which disqualified all the points Valieva earned during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the United States figure skating team will receive a gold medal for its showing in the 2022 Olympic games. Japan has now moved to silver, while the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) slides down to bronze.”4
Justice is served! This is something many felt would never happen.
“It’s been two long years, and we deserve an answer,” Nathan Chen, who competed in the men’s portion of the team event, tells TIME. “We’re beginning to get some closure in the name of clean sport and it was definitely the right call.”
“Before today, I wasn’t really holding my breath for what I feel was the right decision to be made,” says Madison Hubbell, an ice dancer who, with partner Zachary Donohue, was part of the U.S. team. “I’m pleasantly surprised that there was no special consideration just because of her age, and she was held to the same standard of every other athlete. I feel like some of my faith in the system has been restored.”5
We can only speculate as to why Valieva would have done this. We don’t know all the details. Nor can we say with certainty why the ROC and their doping committee would have been a party to this. We would have to think that at least three of the possibilities are:
- National pride;
- Money and endorsements;
- A mentality that says we must win at all costs and that winning is everything.
This couldn’t be farther from the truth! Proverbs 11:1 tells us that, “A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.” A false balance is a way to cheat, whether that be putting a thumb on the scale, cutting corners, or taking banned performance enhancing drugs.
When we cheat someone, God steps in. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 warns, “That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.”
We were taught as kids that it’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game that matters. If we have “played the game” fairly and with Godly integrity, the outcome is in the Lord’s hands. We need to accept His ruling and know that there are far worse things that could happen than losing!
Another adage is cheaters never prosper. You might think you got away with something today but today has a strange way of catching up to us tomorrow!
Live fair, play right, and do it by the rules. Leave the results up to God.
1https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/trimetazidine-what-is-the-competition-banned-drug-that-russian-figure-skater-kamila-valieva-tested-positive-for/ar-BB1huOsK
2https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/olympics-russian-skater-kamila-valieva-disqualified-served-with-four-year-ban/ar-BB1hqMYN?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=9108e2e2da5046359b4fb1e3fac06499&ei=11
3Ibid.
4https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/united-states-awarded-gold-medal-in-2022-olympics-figure-skating-team-event-after-kamila-valievas-doping-ban/
5https://time.com/6590109/kamila-valieva-us-gold-medals-reactions/
