Death threats and intimidation of British journalists mark Russia's response to doping questions

Death threats, harassment and other intimidation tactics have been used against British journalists reporting on the Winter Olympics doping scandal involving one of Russia's star figure skaters.

Teenager Kamila Valieva, the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in competition and who guided the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to team gold on Monday, was named by the International Testing Agency (ITA) as testing positive for banned substance trimetazidine.

The news has thrust the bewildered 15-year-old into the centre of a complex legal battle at the Beijing Games while at the same time provoking an angry and defensive reaction from her country, currently still subject to sanctions by the International Olympic Committee due to being found guilty of state sponsored and institutionalised doping.

Duncan Mackay and Michael Pavitt, the insidethegames journalists to originally break the story of Valieva's positive test late on Wednesday night, have received death threats, accusations of being liars with another warning that "you will be positive when you discover some new substances in your tea."

Russian journalists also angrily rounded on the British media at the Capital Indoor Stadium during Friday's dedicated practice session after one individual asked Valieva whether she was clean and had taken drugs.

Left by the Russian team to come through the mixed zone all alone despite the extreme scrutiny on her following the ITA's doping announcement just hours earlier, the teenager covered her face with her training top while appearing to shake her head.

Irked by the line of questioning towards their star skater, the Russian journalists repeatedly accused their British counterparts of being "horrible human beings". One individual, working for the Olympic Broadcasting Services, insisted Valieva had not tested positive and said she was innocent, suggesting "her coach or doctor must have given her the substance."

The name and details of the British journalist to question Valieva were also posted online, leading to hundreds of abusive messages from Russians in the hours immediately afterwards, including the instruction to "burn in hell" and "eat s---" as well as being labelled scum, a stinking dog and told to go to jail for "harassment of a minor." An article with the headline "Briton's provations at Valieva's Olympic training" appeared on Russian sports website Championat.

Commenting on questions from the British journalist, Svetlana Zhurova, Olympic champion in speed skating, and now a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, told the same website: “We cannot expect anything else from the Western media.

"It makes no sense to scold and accuse them of something, they will still behave this way. Even if the Russian athlete has any therapeutic permission, they will still blame us. At the same time, they will be completely calm about the fact that their athletes have therapeutic permission in the same way. For them, this is normal, but for our athletes it immediately becomes doping.”

In recent days, insidethegames colleagues have also been harrassed in Beijing, with cameras thrust in their faces, accusations over the "suspicious" timing of their story, and messages telling them they have a "dirty soul and deeds." Another was told that their organisation would be made bankrupt as a result of their coverage.

Asked on Saturday about the behaviour towards British journalists, International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams called on everyone to “take a chill pill.”

“Obviously tempers are a little bit fraught, especially as the case involves a 15-year-old athlete. It is not acceptable for that to turn into threats and violence, if indeed that is the case," he said.

“We ask everyone to remain calm. It is very important we respect the Olympic values of respect to each other.”

Such a circling of the wagons in Beijing around Valieva, already regarded as the best in the world despite her tender years, sums up the wider mood back in her homeland.

On Friday, the Kremlin vowed to support the figure skater, despite her positive doping test for trimetazidine, which is used in the prevention of angina attacks, but is on the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list because it is classed as a cardiac metabolic modulator and has been proven to improve physical efficiency.

"Hold your head up, you're a Russian, go proudly and beat everyone!" Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of Valieva.

Developments this week in Beijing have also underlined a broader story this week, about the welfare of a child being overlooked in favour of a medal at all costs approach.

German figure skating great Katarina Witt backed the teen Russian sensation, pointing the finger at Valieva's entourage and said the adults responsible should be banned from the sport forever. "Kamila is only 15! Her coaches, doctors, & federation should be the ones to face public scrutiny – not her," wrote the two-time Olympic champion.

Valieva's Beijing dream will not be decided on the ice but by three women and three men at a boardroom table in a five-star hotel a short drive from the rink.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has set up two temporary offices in Beijing – one for legal disputes and one for doping issues – to provide rapid resolution services during the Games, with the Russian's case now being heard before her scheduled appearance in the individual event, which starts on Tuesday, February 15.

If sent home, Valieva would be one of the youngest athletes ever removed from the Olympics for doping but for now she is free to continue training while legal wranglings continue.

She did so twice on Friday, with the news she had tested positive on Christmas Day with the result only reported on Tuesday, an eye-raising 45 days later, emerging in between sessions.

Her obvious natural talent was clear to see but so too was the apparent stress on the young girl, as she suffered three heavy falls while rehearsing her Bolero free skate.

Olga Yermolina, spokeswoman for the Russian Figure Skating Federation, said that Valieva's training had gone worse than usual because she was “nervous” and “in a bad mood”.

“It is understandable,” she said. “She is not in an information vacuum.”

An outcome to Valieva's case is expected before she is due to compete on Tuesday. If she is disqualified, she and the ROC will be stripped of team gold.

Comment: Russian journalists attack wrong target over Valieva

By Pippa Field

Watching teen sensation Kamila Valieva thrice take a tumble to Ravel's Bolero - a backing track associated with skating perfection thanks to Torvill and Dean - would normally be enough to raise the stress levels. But that was before encountering a swarm of angry Russian journalists.

Valieva, her golden dreams hanging by a thread, had a strong case for her defence - something the Russian Olympic Committee will be hoping is equally true when they find themselves gathered around a boardroom table in a five-star Beijing hotel trying to argue that a positive drugs test should not rule her out of the Games.

The explanation behind the Russian journalists' behaviour? Far less water tight. For all that they seem equally perplexed by the manner in which their nation's 15-year-old prodigy has been dragged from quadruple jumping history-maker to teetering on the verge of being one of the youngest athletes ever removed from the Olympics for doping, their us-against-them mentality was bordering on obtuse.

Their gripe, after Valieva bravely tried to block out the hordes of clicking camera lenses as she practised her free skate routine to the song made famous by Britain's Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill, was centred around what came afterwards.

After debriefing with her coaching team, the teeenager zipped up her training top, picked up her white cuddly toy and made her way to the media mixed zone, no doubt seeking a swift exit.

It was a surprise that not more of the world's media had decamped down to the practice rink following the morning confirmation that she had tested positive for banned substance trimetazidine on Christmas Day.

In the end, though, it was a British journalist whose voice rose the loudest, asking if she was clean and whether she ever took drugs. Valieva, her top already pulled up over her head, appeared to shake her head before walking out.

It turned out the real reaction was just beginning as Russian journalists immediately erupted in angry voices at the manner of questioning towards their own, turning on the British inquisitor, and chasing him into the adjacent room.

The nature of closed loop life inside the Olympic bubble then meant that what could have been a short walk away in separate directions instead required a journey in a small bus version of the tourist trains that pootle around beachside resorts. With the Russians tightly packed into one row, and the British just in front, the raised voices continued.

The Russian argument that Valieva had not tested positive was one that could be easily thrown out given the morning news, while the assertion that she could have been given the banned substance "by her coach or doctor" was almost met with an accepting nod of the head.

Their main issue, however, focused around it being unacceptable to pose those two such questions to a 15-year-old in such a manner.

Valieva's position right at the centre of a global doping controversy is one that you wouldn't wish on anyone her age.
But this whole episode is a welfare story, as much as a doping one - and the fact that the Russian Olympic Committee let their helpless young charge walk alone right into the lion's den of a mixed zone without even a press attache, tells you all you need to know.

Indeed, German figure skating great Katarine Witt summed it up when she wrote: "Kamila is only 15! Her coaches, doctors, & federation should be the ones to face public scrutiny -- not her".

In attacking the journalist for doing his job, the Russia media went after the wrong target.