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 figure skating 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.
When asked whether IOC is partly responsible for Valieva's poor performance in women's singles along with media and information turmoil she has been through after the doping scandal unfolded, Bach responded in the negative.
"We are following the rule of law, and we are feeling at the same time with a minor, with a 15-year-old girl who obviously has a drug in her body which should not be in her body. And the ones who have administered this drug to her body, these are the ones who are guilty," Bach said.
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.�
