TV and Movies

[mspatmac]

China has been manipulating the games too.  Banning because ski outfits are to loose. Calling fouls etc.  Athletes complaining they are not being fed good food.  What a mess.

[Big Joanie]

Geeeee . what a suprise ...!!

[golding76]

What a deep disappointment!  I thrilled to seeing Kamila Valieva for the first time on the first night (I think) of competition for the individual figure skaters.   She enchanted me.  I've never seen her sort of smooth, self-propelled artistic movement on skates.

In fact, I had an insight that she appeared to to move by an engine inside that propelled her hither and yon.  Little did I know that engine was developed in a chemical lab. 

Kamila is also uncharacteristically lengthy for a figure skater, too.  Maybe it is that she is lean because she is so young and thus seems to have longer limbs.

 

[chi5925]

SO fed up with IOC -- still letting Russians compete after Sochi 2014 doping scandal=they built a facility NEXT to the testing lab and had underground passage so that the tests that Russian athletes gave were thrown away and the lab next door brought in that same athletes sample that was taken BEFORE the games started.

IOC also let China provide awful uneatable food for those in isolation.  Also, that surrepetitious interview between IOC President Bach and Chinese tennis player was SO staged. 

IOC is no longer an independent entity and is under the thumb of both Russia and China.

IOC always had some scandal going on (bribery under Juan Antonio Samaranch) but IOC response to the doping and how China is treating athletes is beyond the pale.

From yahoo news.  Bolding and underscoring is mine.

There was no official confirmation of the failed test, nor details on what substance was involved, but Russian media said it was not performance-enhancing but “used to treat a cardiological problem.” RBC News named it as trimetazidine, which is used to prevent angina attacks but is considered a stimulant by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).  The failed drug test makes it all but certain that the Russians will be stripped of their gold medal, which would go instead to their American rivals.

But Valieva’s age is a complicating factor because, under WADA rules, she is considered a “protected person” as she is under 16, which means that she cannot be held responsible for substances found in her doping samples and should not even be publicly named as a suspect.

"Protected category" -- oh puhleeze! 

[nevergivesup]

@PickyPicky3  I agree with you to a point and have great sympathy for the athletes who are caught up in a no win situation. I remember many decades ago a young male skater fell during his performance, was packed up in the middle of the night, flown home to Russia,  unable to stay and enjoy the festivities and his family lost their state owned apartment. Just terrible.

However, to allow this ROC business means their government is not penalized in any way. It’s just a wink wink punishment. Maybe if the government realized that none of the athletes they invested in could be featured then things might change.

---

@PickyPicky3 wrote:

I can understand the ROC being created if the athletes themselves were caught between a rock and a hard place. Imagine what it's like to have your government forcing you to dope up, you can't emigrate to another country, you fear being banned from your sport or worse, etc. 

---

[Mz iMac]

---

@Love my grandkids wrote:

IMO and from what I've read over the years Russian athletes are pressured like no others

---

@Love my grandkids 

Not sure if this is still true or not, at one time China & Russia trained their Olympic hopeful from the time they are toddlers if they showed a "special" talent or were a particular size.

Children was taken away from the parents & placed in a special schools/training camps run by the State all FREE.  The parents were very well compensated by "new" upgraded housing as well as a monthly or yearly stipend.

What another poster was true.  If these "hopefuls" did not do good in the World Championships and/or Olympics they & their families were stripped of their "benefits."

Not sure if this is still going on in Russia or China.  I do know there are still a few countries that do "take care" of Olympic hopefuls by providing housing & stipend(s).  Just not to the extent that China & Russia did or still do.

[TurnerGal]

---

@golding76 wrote:

What a deep disappointment!  I thrilled to seeing Kamila Valieva for the first time on the first night (I think) of competition for the individual figure skaters.   She enchanted me.  I've never seen her sort of smooth, self-propelled artistic movement on skates.

In fact, I had an insight that she appeared to to move by an engine inside that propelled her hither and yon.  Little did I know that engine was developed in a chemical lab. 

Kamila is also uncharacteristically lengthy for a figure skater, too.  Maybe it is that she is lean because she is so young and thus seems to have longer limbs.

 

---

Yes I think she is an incredible skater.  I hope she is not disqualified for something that wasn't aiding her skating and was a mistake.  If she is disqualified there will be several other excellent Russian skaters in  the wings waiting to take her place.

[SeaMaiden]

oh yea those Russians.... 

[LTT1]

@TurnerGal @SeaMaiden @Mz iMac @nevergivesup @chi5925 

She is/was my favorite skater, too.🙁

[LTT1]

@nevergivesup 

No kidding! 
I didn't know all of this until now. I admit I would have tried to tune it out.

Everybody always seems to want the fantasy over reality.

I can imagine how disheartening it is for competitors from other countries, including the US, to continue all of their hard work under these circumstances.