USOPC chair: “Credibility of the Olympic Movement… teetering on the edge”

BEIJING - Susanne Lyons tells Around the Rings in an exclusive interview the integrity of sport is at stake, as scandal brews around a star Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team figure skater at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

“Clearly what’s on my mind today is it is so important to the athletes of the world that the values of this Movement be upheld, and one of the most important values is integrity of sport,” Lyons, the chair of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Board of Directors, said during a break in the men’s figure skating competition at Capital Indoor Stadium. “And it’s just terribly upsetting to the athletes today to have that wound potentially reopened again.”

According to Russian media, Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance, which has delayed the awarding of medals in the figure skating team event. The 15-year-old skated twice to help the ROC team win, and she is favored to win the gold in the individual event.

If the ROC team is disqualified, the United States would be awarded the gold medal, while Japan would be upgraded to silver, and Canada would receive the bronze.

However, there is legal wrangling involving the International Olympic Committee and the International Skating Union that is expected to be resolved soon.

Lyons said World Anti-Doping Agency rules must not only be observed, “but that when something does go wrong that the sanctions are even-handed across the world — that they are all treated fairly. It doesn’t matter whose athlete it is or how good they are; if someone does something wrong, it needs to be addressed evenly across all countries.”

“That’s my great fear. I don’t have information on today’s specific situation, but I think that it’s a conversation we need to reopen again. That really the whole credibility of the Olympic Movement and the Paralympic Movement stands teetering on the edge of us saying that we really believe and live the values that we say we stand for. And I just hope that’s what we’ll see in this specific situation that’s happening today.”

Rather than compete under a Russian flag in the wake of one of its doping scandal, Russian athletes were allowed to represent their Olympic committee instead.

Should they not have been allowed back in?

“Honestly, we don’t have enough of the facts today to say what should or should not be done,” Lyons said. “We’re going to see that unspool itself throughout the course of the day, so we’ll probably have more thoughts on that, if something has happened it needs to be dealt with. It’s the most unfair thing that athletes of the world can deal with if there’s not going to be fairness in sport. It’s the thing they care most about.”