We need to redirect our outrage from the 15-year-old ROC figure skater, Kamila Valieva, who tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Winter Olympics and focus it on her entourage and the International Olympic Committee.
From my experience as an Olympic athlete, who joined the national programme here in Britain as a child, I don’t believe for one minute Kamila Valieva either knowingly took a banned substance or conceived the idea to dope. Until you are 16 years old, responsibility for what you take lies squarely with your coaches and medical team.
You conform to their advice even when you are an adult athlete, but as a child, your trust and compliance is magnified tenfold.
