Winter Olympics day 12: Results and news out of Beijing
The pandemic-driven decision by the National Hockey League to keep its best players away from Beijing has come back to bite the United States in a big way.
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Slovakia stunned the United States with a tying goal in the final minute of regulation before winning 3-2 in a shootout to eliminate the Americans in the Beijing Olympic ice hockey quarter-finals.
The United States were 44 seconds from sending Slovakia home when captain Marek Hrivik scored to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Slovakia scored the only goal in the final penalty shootout. USA captain Andy Miele had one last shot but his effort was smothered by Slovak netminder Patrik Rybar.
Slovakia’s big 17-year-old Juraj Slafkovsky, who has emerged as one of the stars of the tournament, opened the scoring midway through the first period, giving him five goals in Beijing to lead all players.
The US took back the lead early in the second and held it until Hrivik’s late goal.
The pandemic-driven decision by the National Hockey League, the world’s top pro league, to keep its superstars away from Beijing has deprived the Olympics of a best-on-best competition.
The NHL absence has particularly weakened the USA and Canada, forcing them to assemble collections of ageing veterans and NHL-bound youngsters who had little time to prepare together.
Still, the United States — the youngest squad in Beijing — went 3-0 in group play thanks largely to its speed on the ice, but had their hands full in a scrappy game against the opportunistic Slovaks.
Fears ‘dirty cheaters’ have tarnished Olympics forever
As Kamila Valieva prepared to begin her charge towards gold in the women’s singles figure skating competition, Olympians around the sport blasted her legitimacy in the games.
Just a day prior to the start of the free skate competition at the 2022 Olympics, Valieva was granted eligibility by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after her failed drug test was revealed a day after she helped lead the ROC to a gold medal in the team event.
“Dirty cheaters, and we are accommodating them,” said former American skater Adam Rippon, who coaches American — and Valieva’s opponent — Mariah Bell.
“I don’t know how the Olympics recovers from this.”
Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication that could help with endurance. The test occurred six weeks ago at the Russian national championships, however, with the Russian Anti-Doping Agency claiming it was first notified of the positive test on Feb. 7 – a day after Valieva helped the ROC win gold in the team event.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled on an appeal made by the International Olympic Committee, World Anti-Doping Agency and International Skating Union in response to the ROC’s decision to lift Valieva’s ban.
Just 15 years old, the investigation primarily focuses on any wrongdoings committed by Valieva’s team around her, not the skater herself.
“What this says is that the team around her are child abusers,” Rippon said. “The only thing they care about is performance, and not the health and well being of their athletes. They are a factory that pumps out children who can compete, up to a certain point. It doesn’t feel like the coaches involved in the ladies’ program are coaches at all, but dog trainers; they’re running a circus.
“They shouldn’t be here at the Olympic Games. They’re clowns.”
The ROC claimed that Valieva repeatedly passed doping tests prior to her positive tests and have vehemently denied any wrongdoing, telling reporters, “We are absolutely sure that Kamila is innocent and clean.”
Sarah Hirshland, the chief executive of the U.S. committee, argued that clean Olympians are being denied “the right to know they are competing on a level playing field.”
“We are disappointed by the messages this sends,” Hirshland said. “This appears to be another chapter in the systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia.”
Valieva has spoken just once amid the controversy, when she told reporters Monday that the past week has “been very difficult for me.” She has not publicly commented on her failed test, but she reportedly joined her lawyers and took part of her own defence to the The Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Former Canadian skater Scott Moir, who captured two Olympic gold medals in ice dance, believes Valieva’s continued participation stains his own accomplishments.
“I feel sick to my stomach. What I’m feeling is my whole dedication to my sport, to my community and to my country — I’m questioning it all,” Moir said. “I’m questioning why I walked into schools for the past 12 years of my life and told kids what pride I took in being an Olympian and what that means, and what power sports has in bringing the world together, for fair play and the Olympic morals that we all believe in.
“I do feel for the 15-year-old, but at the end of the day if she did cheat, it’s very simple to me — she shouldn’t be competing. I do put the blame for that on people around her, and not so much on her. But this is a big hit to the Olympic movement.”
‘MULTIPLE DRUGS’: FRESH TWIST IN OLYMPIC DOPING SCANDAL
Valieva learned during the Games she had tested positive in December for trimetazidine, a drug used to treat angina which also boosts endurance.
On Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that she could carry on at the Olympics, but that does not mean she has been cleared of doping and she could still face punishment at a later date.
The Times reported that her sample also contained the heart medications hypoxen and L-Carnatine, which are not on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list.
The Times report said the disclosures concerning the different substances were contained in a document submitted at Sunday’s Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing that ended with the controversial decision to allow Valieva to compete.
Senior IOC member Denis Oswald told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday that Valieva told the CAS hearing she tested positive because of “contamination” from her grandfather’s medicine.
Russian media reported that Valieva allegedly drank from the same glass as her grandfather, who takes trimetazidine for a heart condition.
The Times report said that Valieva’s grandfather had provided a prerecorded video message to a hearing with Russian anti-doping officials on February 9 in which he said he used trimetazidine to treat “attacks.”
The athlete’s grandfather showed a packet of the medication during the message. Valieva’s mother told the same hearing her daughter took the substance hypoxen due to heart “variations”, the Times report said.
She added that Valieva’s grandfather also accompanied the teenager to practice on a daily basis
WRONG TURN COSTS ATHLETE GOLD
Norwegian nordic combined athlete Jarl Magnus Riiber has had a Beijing Olympics to forget.
Despite emerging from Covid-19 isolation just before his event, the 24-year-old was raring to go in the large hill 10km/ski jump event on Tuesday.
Then he took a wrong turn and blew any chance of a medal.
Riiber had only been given the green to compete on the day of the event after time in isolation due to a positive test for coronavirus.
Nevertheless, he put himself in contention for a medal by soaring out to the highest-scoring ski jump earlier in the day.
Then came the 10-kilometre cross-country ski — but with his time in isolation he had not had time to check out the course beforehand and he went the wrong way.
Once Riiber realised his mistake he turned around — but he had lost valuable time and eventually finished eighth, nearly 40 seconds behind, in a competition won by his fellow Norwegian Joergen Graabak.
Another Norwegian, Jens Luraas Oftebro, took the silver medal while Akito Watabe of Japan won bronze.
“It’s a silly mistake and it’s not fun to show the world that I’m maybe wasting a gold medal on that,” said Riiber.
“I have only spent seven minutes on skis (since leaving isolation). I could tell it wasn’t enough for what I was facing today.” He headed off to get warm — and was crossing his fingers he would be fit for Thursday’s team event.
“Let’s see if I come through today unscathed. It’s possible I might have caught a little illness because it was cold and the temperature is a little bit different from what I had in the hotel room,” he said.
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