Team USA’s Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor top the podium in monobob’s Olympic debut
Abby Roque’s “unconventional journey” to Beijing 2022 as first Indigenous woman to play hockey for the US
By CNN’s Ben Morse
When Abby Roque began falling in love with ice hockey as a child, playing with her dad and her friends, it was all about developing a passion for the game.
However, when she started competing at college, she realized that she looked different to most of her teammates.
“Growing up as an Indigenous person, it wasn’t really that rare to see other hockey players playing who had Indigenous roots,” Roque told CNN before the Games.
“And then I got to college and that’s when it really clicked for me that you’re different from the rest of the people.”
Roque admits she’s had an “unconventional journey” to get to where she is: from playing on her backyard ice rink to representing the United States at the Olympics.
But as a trailblazing Indigenous player, she wants to have an impact on future players to come.
“I want to diversify hockey as a sport because it really is a very White sport, and we want to change that,” she said.
“Making the sport more diverse is just trying to make it more accessible first of all. But also gaining more visibility that you can make it. I think looking at this roster as a young kid, you didn’t see anybody who wasn’t a White hockey player.
“For me, that goes a long way. Seeing someone like you doing it, being at the top of the game and knowing that you can make it that far and that hockey can include you.
“If one little girl says: ‘I want to play hockey because she’s playing hockey,’ that would mean the world to me.”
Roque and her Team USA teammates take to the ice to face Finland in their ice hockey semifinal at Beijing 2022 at 8.10 a.m. ET.
For more on Roque’s journey, watch below:
CNN’s Beijing 2022 event guide: Short track speed skating
From CNN’s Sana Noor Haq
Making its debut in the Olympic program at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France, short track speed skating dates back to 1905, when athletes in Canada and the United States would compete on oval tracks.
However, the scarcity of 400m long tracks in each country meant that a number of North American skaters chose to practice on ice rinks instead — and thus a new form of the sport was born.
One of three skating events at the Winter Olympics, short track speed skating requires tight turns, strategic positioning and high speeds. Athletes compete on an ice track and field without lanes, so they are prone to both crashes and injury.
The competition at Beijing 2022 will feature nine events: men’s and women’s 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m — as well as the men’s 5,000m team relay and the women’s 3,000m team relay, alongside the new mixed team relay competition. There are nine gold medals up for grabs in total.
Short track speed skating is scheduled to take place until February 16.
WADA ‘disappointed’ by CAS decision on Kamila Valieva; Canada says events are ‘extremely unfortunate and sad for the athletes’
By CNN’s Ben Morse
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has said it is “disappointed” at the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) decision to clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva to compete at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
CAS announced its decision following an hours-long hearing on Sunday, saying in a statement it had decided Valieva, 15, should be allowed to compete due to “exceptional circumstances,” including specific provisions linked to her status as a “protected person” under the World Anti-Doping Code because she is a minor.
Having initially appealing the case to CAS alongside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Skating Union (ISU), WADA reacted to the news Valieva would be able to continue competing in Beijing.
“While WADA has not received the reasoned award, it appears that the CAS panel decided not to apply the terms of the Code, which does not allow for specific exceptions to be made in relation to mandatory provisional suspensions for ‘protected persons,’ including minors.
“Concerning the analysis of the athlete’s sample, WADA always expects Anti-Doping Organizations to liaise with the laboratories in order to ensure they expedite the analysis of samples so that the results are received prior to athletes traveling to or competing in a major event, such as the Olympic or Paralympic Games and, where applicable, conduct results management of the cases related to such athletes.
“According to information received by WADA, the sample in this case was not flagged by RUSADA as being a priority sample when it was received by the anti-doping laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden. This meant the laboratory did not know to fast-track the analysis of this sample.
“As previously announced, under the terms of the Code, when a minor is involved in an anti-doping case, there is a requirement to investigate that athlete’s support personnel. RUSADA has already indicated it has begun that process. In addition, WADA’s independent Intelligence and Investigations Department will look into it.”
Meanwhile, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) called the situation “extremely unfortunate and sad for the athletes.”
Canada finished fourth in the team event which the Russian Olympic Committee team won and which Valieva was a part of.
“The COC is fully committed to clean sport and we firmly believe that no one involved in doping or other corrupt practices has a place in the Olympic Movement,” Tricia Smith, President of the COC, said in a statement.
Smith added: “While the COC was not permitted to be formally involved in the CAS appeal process, we have been following the details of the case closely and doing what we can to ensure the protection of the interests of Canadian figure skating athletes and all clean athletes. While we trust that the CAS decision was the result of a fair process, we are extremely disappointed with this result.”
After monobob gold, USA’s Kaillie Humphries pushes for equality across all bobsled events
Team USA’s Kaillie Humphries reflected on “the highs and lows” of her career after winning the first ever gold in the monobob event at the Winter Olympics on Monday.
It was her third career Olympic gold medal and fourth Olympic medal overall. Humphries’ previous three Olympic medals came as she competed in two-woman bobsled for Canada.
“It has been a journey to get here and it hasn’t always been guaranteed. It hasn’t always been easy. I have had a lot of fears and doubts. I have had highs and lows,” Humphries said at the National Sliding Center.
“To know that I still got it is a pretty cool feeling and it’s so heart-warming to be able to bring back a gold medal for a country that has really stood behind me for the last four years.”
On the future of women’s bobsleigh, Humphries said she’d love to see equality across all three bobsled events. The monobob made its Olympic debut in Beijing after a long, hard-fought campaign to get the sport included.
It joins the pre-existing traditional bobsled events: four-man, two-man, and two-woman — and gives women two medal opportunities, bringing them even with men.
“What I would love to see, not only for women’s bobsled but bobsled in general, is that eventually women get four-man and that men can do monobob. Three events for all athletes, regardless of gender, would really push the needle and move the sport forward,” she said.
“It would allow for more small nations within men’s bobsled, more participation for women if we can get women’s four-man going, and just greater opportunity for more athletes worldwide.”
Here’s the timeline of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s failed drug test
The doping scandal surrounding Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) figure skater, has rocked the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
She was allowed to compete despite testing positive for the banned heart drug Trimetazidine, which is commonly used to treat people with angina. The failed test only came to light during the Winter Olympics, and it remains unclear if the controversy will see the gold medal revoked.
Here’s a timeline of the events:
Dec. 25, 2021: A drug sample is taken from Valieva at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg.
Jan. 15, 2021: Valieva wins the 2022 European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.
Feb. 1, 2022: Valieva arrives in Beijing for the Winter Olympics.
Feb. 7, 2022: Valieva helps the ROC win gold in the figure skating team event at Beijing 2022, landing the first ever quadruple jump by a woman in Olympic competition.
Feb. 7, 2022: A lab accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Stockholm, Sweden, confirms an adverse analytical finding in Valieva’s sample, WADA said.
Some background: The Russian Anti-Doping Agency’s (RUSADA) laboratory is currently suspended by WADA. Hence, testing is outsourced and carried out by WADA-accredited laboratories. In this instance, testing was designated to the Stockholm laboratory.
Feb. 8, 2022: Valieva is notified and provisionally suspended by RUSADA.
Feb. 8, 2022: The medal ceremony for the figure skating team event is postponed. Later, reports emerge of a failed drugs test by a member of the ROC team.
Feb. 9, 2022: Valieva challenges provisional suspension; RUSADA’s Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee lifts the suspension.
Feb. 10, 2022 : Valieva trains as normal at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing.
Feb. 11, 2022: The International Testing Agency (ITA) confirms Valieva failed a test for a banned substance in December, adding it will appeal RUSADA’s decision to lift the suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on behalf of the IOC. WADA and the International Skating Union (ISU) also said they will appeal.
Feb. 13, 2022: CAS conducts a hearing into the case. WADA says it will investigate Valieva’s entourage — as a minor, Valieva is not the only person of interest in the case.
Feb. 14, 2022: CAS rules Valieva can continue competing at the Olympics. A decision on the team gold medals will be made during “other proceedings,” CAS said.
US figure skater Madison Hubbell: “Huge disappointment” not to get team medals
American skater Madison Hubbell said the possibility that Team USA won’t be awarded the figure skating team event medals before the Beijing Games end would be a “huge disappointment.”
Hubbell is yet to receive her team event silver as the scandal over Russian skater Kamila Valieva’s failed drug test continues to delay the awarding of medals for the event in which the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) won gold.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday ruled Valieva could compete but didn’t examine whether there was merit in her failed drug test, or on whether the ROC should lose the gold.
“We’ve been focusing on this individual event, knowing that this decision was up in the air. I believe there is no done deal yet. I know that all of the people in the team event, our main hope was that we would receive the medals here all together as a team,” Hubbell said in a news conference after winning bronze in the ice dance Monday.
“So if that really is the case, then we miss that opportunity, I think it’s a huge disappointment. It’s something we accomplished together, and it’s not the same at all to have that experience taken away. So my heart goes out to the rest of my teammates, and hope we’ll find something to celebrate together.”
International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams said Monday it is likely the medals in the team event won’t be sorted out during the Games.
Canada through to women’s ice hockey finals
Team Canada advances to the women’s ice hockey gold medal game after a 10-3 semifinal win against Switzerland on Monday.
Canada will now await the outcome of the US-Finland match to see whether they will face off against arch rivals the United States in the final.
The perennial hockey powerhouses were widely tipped to contend for the championship in Beijing. The Canadians are bent on reclaiming the gold after the US ended their run of four straight Olympic titles in 2018.
Switzerland will play in the bronze medal game against the losers of the US-Finland match, which kicks off at 9:10 p.m. local time (8:10 a.m. ET).
US Olympic & Paralympic Committee “disappointed” by Kamila Valieva case
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee said the Kamila Valieva case “appears to be another chapter in the systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia.”
“We are disappointed by the message this decision sends. It is the collective responsibility of the entire Olympic community to protect the integrity of sport and to hold our athletes, coaches and all involved to the highest of standards. Athletes have the right to know they are competing on a level playing field. Unfortunately, today that right is being denied,” said USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland.
“We know this case is not yet closed, and we call on everyone in the Olympic Movement to continue to fight for clean sport on behalf of athletes around the world.”
Athletes’ group urges “immediate reform” to anti-doping systems following Kamila Valieva ruling
Global Athlete, an athlete-led group working for change across the sporting world, said the ruling to allow Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva to compete in Beijing is “another example of the failures of the global sport and antidoping system.”
The group said the fact that Valieva — a 15-year-old — tested positive for a banned substance is “evidence of abuse of a minor.”
“Sport should be protecting its athletes, not damaging them,” it said in a statement.
“Doping and the trauma of a positive test pose grave physical and psychological risks to all athletes but especially to minors. It is unacceptable that these risks have been placed on a fifteen-year-old,” Global Athlete said.
“The volume of abuses athletes have endured over the decades can undeniably be attributed to the power imbalance that sport leaders, administrators, and coaches have over athletes.”
The group said athletes need professional representation and “the ability to collectively bargain.”
“It is blatantly clear that Valieva would have never been placed in this position if the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had done their jobs and banned Russia from global sport,” the group said.
“The doping of Kamila Valieva must be a wake-up call for every fan, parent, and athlete to stand together to demand reform. The doping of minor athletes must be stopped.”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/beijing-winter-olympics-02-14-22-spt/index.html
