In December of 2022 at the Beijing Figure Skating Olympics, 15-year-old Kamila Valieva had a positive doping test. She was banned from the Olympics for four years.

Doping is the use of a drug to make someone have an advantage in their sport. Doping has become a bid deal in the Olympics since the tragic incident of 2019, where Russia was banned from competing in the Olympics because of an extensive use of performance-enhancing medications. Russian athletes can still compete, but only under the flag that contained the Olympic rings, not under the Russian flag. To discuss this topic further, students were asked to give their opinion.

In an interview, Natalie Nichenko, 10^th grader, said, “I feel bad for the girl because she so young and it’s kind of being forced upon her by her coach.” Valieva was the gold medal favorite for that year and so she got a lot of pressure from the public to win the gold medal. Some people say that this was one of the reasons that she decided to take her grandpa’s heart medication to enhance her heart rate to give a better performance. In the end, Valieva was under an immense amount of pressure, and that might have been a reason for why she used the medication. So, is the punishment she got fair?

Roberta Jayne, 10^th grader, said in another interview, “I think she deserves punishment so that she can learn, so that she doesn’t do those things anymore” It has been a big discussion about how big the punishment should be for the 15-year-old. Since she is a minor, the Russian tribunal had cleared her from any blame, and she did not get a leniency. The rules treat her the same as an adult athlete though. When Valieva’s doping test came out positive, she first tried to deny it by saying that her grandpa baked her a cake and used the same knife that he crushes his medication with, but no evidence supported her claim. She was banned from participating in the Olympics for four years.

A 9^th grader Capri Cantwell said, “She took away the opportunity to win from athletes that worked really hard to get to where they are without enhancements” After Valieva was banned, her points were eliminated but Russia was still in third place. The US won the gold medal and Japan also moved up to second place, but Canada, who was 1 point behind Russia, was not satisfied with the results. They argue that the Russian team should be disqualified because of Valieva.

Doping has been a big issue in the Olympics from the start. “I don’t think it’s fair at all for anyone to use doping or steroids to get an advantage in whatever sport they’re doing because it’s just not fair for everyone else who’s trained just as hard and is not cheating.” Sports are so interesting to watch because it’s about people training and competing against each other, sacrificing their time and energy to become better at the sport. Doping makes it seem fake and unreal.