Sport
Sha’Carri Richardson Slams Decision To Allow Russian Skater To Compete
Sha’Carri Richardson has questioned the decision to allow Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva to compete after failing a drug test.
Valieva has been making headlines this week, but not for her performances on the ice at the Beijing Olympics.
The Russian Olympic Committee athlete failed a drugs tested that lead to her receiving a provisional suspension.
The 15-year-old helped the ROC to a team gold, but the medal ceremony did not go ahead.
She successfully appealed the suspension, and it was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday.
Valieva will now have the chance to compete for individual gold on Tuesday, but once again, the ceremony will not go ahead should she win a medal.
The decision to allow the Russian to continue competing has sparked a lot of controversy.
US sprinter took to Twitter to call out the double standards after she faced her own suspension last summer.
Richardson missed out on the chance to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after her drug test for marijuana came back positive.
“My mother died and I can’t run and was also favoured to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a young black lady,” she wrote.
Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines? My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady. https://t.co/JtUfmp3F8L
— Sha’Carri Richardson (@itskerrii) February 14, 2022
“It’s all in the skin,” she followed up. “[Valieva] Failed in December and the world just now know however my resulted was posted within a week and my name & talented was slaughtered to the people.”
Because Valieva is still a minor, she is considered a ‘protected person’ by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
If she can show her use of trimetazidine was unintentional, then she could receive only a reprimand according to the New York Times.
But, if found to have knowingly taken the banned substance, she could be stripped of current and future medals won at the Beijing Games.
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