MILAN (AP) — Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s former coach is back at the Winter Olympics, this time working with a Georgian athlete, and the World Anti-Doping Agency isn’t happy about it.
WADA president Witold Banka said Thursday at the Milan Cortina Games that he’s not comfortable with Eteri Tutberidze’s presence at the competition. She is accredited with Georgia as the coach of European champion Nika Egadze.
Valieva, then aged 15, was at the center of a legal battle during the 2022 Beijing Games when a sample she gave two months earlier tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. The revelation came after Valieva won team gold with other Russian skaters. She was later disqualified from that event, which upgraded the United States to gold. Valieva was a contender for the women’s gold medal but placed fourth and was criticized rink-side by Tutberidze.
“It’s not our decision the coach is here,” Banka said Thursday at a news conference in Milan. “The investigation found no evidence that this particular person was engaged in this doping process, so there’s no legal basis to exclude her from the presence during the Olympic Games.”
“But of course, if you ask me personally about my feelings,” he continued, “I don’t feel comfortable with her presence here in the Olympic Games, for sure.”
The Georgian Figure Skating Federation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Valieva’s ban expired in December, despite legal efforts to have it overturned.
Rules have been changed to raise the minimum age for skaters to 17 in time for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
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