Matters of the Heart
Two failed drugs tests yielded very different results. Where was the compassion for Sha’Carri Richardson when she needed it?
In recent days, the news broke that Olympic figure skating star, Kamila Valieva, failed a drug test for a heart medication. Rather than ban her from competing, the Olympic committee has decided to allow her to retain her gold medal for Russia for the team competition and to allow her to compete in the women’s singles skating, going on as I write this. The issue is this — if Kamila, a 15-year-old white girl, is allowed to compete, why wasn’t Sha’Carri Richardson, a black woman, allowed to compete at the Tokyo Games, when she tested positive for marijuana?
This morning, in the Washington Post, a story about Kamila Valieva’s coach, Eteri Tutberidze, is on the digital front page. In the article, the coach is described as “running an unforgiving and risky program that critics say drives to stardom and then discards teenage skaters who have left the sport with severe injuries and reported lasting eating disorders.” There is no doubt that the article is sympathetic to the teens in Tutberidze’s charge, including Valieva.
Not on the front page, but tucked away in a corner of the digital New York Times (requiring a search) is a short article about Sha’Carri…
