BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2022) International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach said that he was "disturbed" while watching the performance of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who is in the midst of a doping controversy.
The skiing competition in women's singles was held on Thursday. Valieva came fourth (224.09 points) following Japan's Kaori Sakamoto (233.13), Russia's Alexandra Trusova (251.73), and gold winner Anna Shcherbakova of Russia (255.95).
"I must say, I was very disturbed yesterday when I watched the competition on tv... how high the pressure on her must have been. I know from my athlete's time a little bit about pressure but this pressure is beyond my imagination," Bach told a press conference held on Friday.
Earlier in February, the International Testing Agency said that Valieva's probe, which was performed by a laboratory accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on December 25, contained a banned substance called trimetazidine. The Court of Arbitration for Sport allowed her participation in Olympic individual competitions despite a complaint from the IOC, the WADA and the International Skating Union.
