Figure skating coach Eteri Tutberidze conducts an open training session during the Moscow Sports Day festival at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex in Moscow, Russia July 6, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina
MILAN, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency said on Thursday he felt uncomfortable at the presence at the Milano Cortina Olympics of Eteri Tutberidze, former coach of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva who was at the heart of a doping scandal at the Beijing 2022 Games.
Tutberidze, who was not found guilty by WADA of any offence in relation to Valieva's positive test and never faced any sanction, is currently working with European champion Nika Egadze of Georgia and has arrived in Milan as an accredited coach.
"WADA did not accredit the coach. It is not our decision," WADA President Witold Banka told a press conference.
"The coach is here. An investigation found no evidence that this particular person engaged in a doping process so there is no legal basis to exclude her from the Olympic Games.
"But, of course, if youask my personal feeling, I don't feel comfortablewith her presence here at the Olympic Games," Banka added.
At the 2022 Games, Valieva, who was 15, became the first woman to complete a quadruple jump at the Olympics in the team event as Russia won gold.
A day later, however, it emerged she had tested positive for banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian national championships in December 2021, just weeks before the 2022 Olympics, triggering a media furore.
Russian Tutberidze has repeatedly denied any involvement in doping with any of her skaters and always said their welfare was her top priority.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) authorised Valieva to take part in the women's singles event in Beijing four years ago despite her positive test but said medals for the team event would not be allocated until her case was settled.
Valieva then finished fourth in the women's individual figure skating event after a poor free skate, where she fell several times, despite leading after the short program. She left the ice in tears.
'WHY DID YOU STOP FIGHTING?'
Tutberidze sharply scolded a sobbing Valieva: "Why did you let it go? Explain it to me, why? Why did you stop fighting completely? Somewhere after the Axel you let it go."
Then IOC President Thomas Bach said at the time that the way Tutberidze confronted Valieva after her free skatewas "chilling", and urged for her entourage to be investigated.
Following the Valieva case, the minimum age of skaters at the Olympics was raised to 17.
The Director-General of the International Testing Agency, Benjamin Cohen, was also asked about Tutberidze's presence at the Games in a press conference on Thursday.
"It is not for the ITA to comment because we don't accredit (athletes or coaches)," he said.
"The ITA is responsible for all doping tests prior and duringthe Olympic Games. The individual involved (Tutberidze) was not found to have committed an anti-doping violation, but had she done so we would have taken a very strict stance."
"Any minor found to have committed an anti-doping violation would result in an automatic investigation around their entourage as well. Minors generally don't dope in isolation."
Valieva was banned for four years for doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2024, a decision that also stripped the Russian Olympic Committee of its gold medal in the team event at the 2022 Games.
The ban was made effective from December 2021 and Valieva, now 19, returned to the ice at the Russian Jumping Championships last weekend.
(Additional reporting by Lori Ewing in MilanEditing by Toby Davis)
