MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/. Moscow believes that a ‘misunderstanding’ is behind the current controversy regarding Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva at the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
"We are confident that this is all about some misunderstanding," Peskov told journalists at a daily news briefing. "Our sports officials have specific questions to ask about the timeframe of Valieva’s doping test sample results. We are keeping a track of these questions and concerns on behalf of our sports officials."
Peskov said that the Kremlin "refuses to make any comments on the issue" and is waiting for the investigation to be completed.
The press secretary also stated that there are no questions whatsoever in regard to Russian sports officials, as they are "doing their job."
Peskov reiterated the Kremlin’s strong support for Kamila Valieva and encouraged her to hold her head high and continue triumphing over her opponents on the ice. Valieva left this morning’s training session in Beijing covering her face in her hoodie.
"…we absolutely support Kamila Valieva and call on everyone else to do the same," Peskov urged. "Our message to Kamila is - don’t hide your face, you are a Russian, keep on walking proudly and most importantly, keep skating and beating everyone."
Earlier in the day, the International Testing Agency announced that a test taken from Valieva in December 2021 during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg turned out to be positive. This triggered the postponement of the awarding ceremony of Olympic team tournament, won by Russia.
ROC figure skaters clinched the gold in the team competition at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing last Monday. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) later canceled the medals awarding ceremony in Beijing for the figure skating team competition’s winners citing legal obstacles, which had to be settled with the International Skating Union (ISU). InsideTheGames sports web portal reported later that the delay in the awarding ceremony of figure skaters could be linked to an alleged positive doping result among the Russian skaters.
Kamila Valieva scored 178.92 points, taking the top prize in the women’s free skate event, which closed the team competition. Team ROC (the Russian Olympic Committee) ended the team competition with a total of 74 points to clinch the gold.
ROC’s Mark Kondratyuk represented the team in the men’s singles and Valieva in the women’s singles. Anastasia Mishina and Alexander Galliamov skated in the pairs’ competitions and Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov in ice dancing.
Valieva won the short and free skating events. Kondratyuk came in third in the short event and second in the free event. Mishina and Galliamov won in the free skating and were runners-up in the short event. Sinitsina and Katsalapov finished second in both events.
Team USA took home the silver with judges awarding them an aggregate of 65 points, only two points ahead of the bronze medal winners from Japan (63 points).
The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in the Chinese capital of Beijing are being held between February 4 and 20. During the 128th IOC session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015, Beijing was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games making the Chinese capital the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2008) as well as the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 2022).