Russian 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva, who survived the doping scandal at the Beijing Olympics, is supported by millions of people online ahead of her short program. Fans of the athlete launched a flash mob on the TikTok social network.
Users of the popular virtual space mark on their videos the hashtag #Nepryachface, which has become one of the most popular over the past 5 days. On TikTok alone, his views are approaching 30 million. In addition, more than five thousand people took part in the flash mob of the same name.
The questionable doping test of the 15-year-old figure skater became known on February 9. A WADA-accredited laboratory in Stockholm said a test taken on December 25 contained traces of doping-qualified trimetazidine. The figure skater was temporarily suspended from the competition.
On February 14, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the appeals of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the IOC and allowed the Russian woman to compete at the Olympics.
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), commenting on the situation, indicated that Valieva received negative doping test results before and after December 25, and the athlete’s sample after the team tournament in Beijing also turned out to be clean, like all other samples taken during the Olympics.
On February 11, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov supported the athlete by saying the very words that have become popular on the Web.
On January 15, the head of the disciplinary commission of the International Olympic Committee announced that the banned substance trimetazidine could have entered the body of a Russian athlete with a product that her grandfather used.
The ROC figure skating team with Valieva took gold in the team tournament on February 7. The 15-year-old figure skater won both programs, scoring 90.18 in the short and 178.92 in the free. The figure skater will perform on February 15 in a personal tournament, where she is the main contender for gold. Her next performance with a free program will take place on February 17.
Currently, the ROC team has 20 medals: 4 gold, 7 silver and 9 bronze.
The 2022 Olympics are held from February 4 to 20, the Paralympics – from March 4 to 13. The games will be held in three clusters at once – in Beijing (hockey, figure skating, speed skating, curling), Zhangjiakou (biathlon, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping) and Yanqing (alpine skiing, bobsleigh, skeleton and luge).