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Olympic Committee Chooses Equity
And it isn’t fair to skaters who play by the rules
The International Olympic Committee couldn’t decide what to do with Kamila Valieva. The Russian figure skater tested positive on a December drug test, but it takes due process to decide whether she violated anti-doping rules. They finally decided she can compete but there won’t be any medal ceremonies if she wins.
“In the interest of fairness to all athletes and the NOCs concerned, it would not be appropriate to hold the medal ceremony for the figure skating team event…” says the IOC.
So nobody gets a ceremony, even the athletes who play by the rules.
“It’s all just so unfair,” said Adam Rippon, coach of U.S. figure skater Mariah Bell. “And now it’s also so unfair to all of these ladies because their whole Olympic experience is now wrapped up in the controversy because a country doesn’t want to play by the damn rules.”
Is this an example of equity at its worst?