According to the Times on February 3, the Russian embassy in South Africa posted on X (formerly Twitter) suggesting that tennis legend Serena Williams and gymnast Biles were doping users, and compared the two to Russian figure skater Valieva.
Just a few days ago, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on its official website that Russian figure skater Valieva was banned for four years from December 25, 2021, for violating anti-doping regulations.
The 17-year-old Valieva was a member of the Russian Olympic Committee and won gold in the team event at Beijing 2022. According to the above ruling, Valieva was also deprived of all awards, medals, bonuses and appearance fees after December 25, 2021.
Above, Valieva competes at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
In response to this ruling, the Russian embassy in South Africa posted a collage of three **s on X, with the caption "Don't doubt! ”
The collage takes a satirical approach, with the top half showing the Russian figure skater's slender figure skater, but labeling her a "doping"; The second half shows the famous American tennis player Serena Williams and gymnast Biles, the two American athletes with developed muscles and strong appearance, in stark contrast to the slender Valieva, but the two American athletes are labeled as "cereal", ironically suggesting that the strength of the two American athletes is due to eating "cereal".
Above, a post from the Russian Embassy in South Africa (deleted).
After the above post was published, it quickly attracted a lot of attention. Soon, the Russian embassy in South Africa deleted the post with an explanation and an apology.
Here's how the embassy explained it:
In 2016, WADA documents were leaked on the internet showing that both Serena Williams and Simon Biles had used doping – but in accordance with the so-called "**Use Exemption" (TUE), and the AADA confirmed the authenticity of the documents. Serena Williams received five exemptions for the use of the corticosteroids prednisone and prednisolone in 2014 and 2015, as well as another exemption for the use of the narcotic painkiller oxycodone, according to **. Corticosteroids can reduce swelling and inflammation and can also enhance some physiological functions. Simon Biles reportedly tested positive for methylphenidate, a substance that is listed as banned, during the Olympics. Methylphenidate is known under a variety of trade names**, including*** Both athletes claimed that they had never violated the rules in this regard because they were officially licensed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. **It was also reported that in March 2023, the Norwegian national team doctor Uwe Verenn told the VG tabloid that 50%-70% of the athletes in the Norwegian cross-country skiing team at the World Championships suffered from asthma and were taking appropriate medications**. Obviously, it is fully compliant with the above provisions. Does anyone want to investigate the "state-sponsored doping regime" in these countries? We bet there are a lot of discoveries waiting to be discovered, even more interesting than the recent doping scandal in Spain.
That's the idea behind our last post.
Pictured above is an explanation and apology post issued by the Russian Embassy in South Africa
At the end of the post, the embassy issued an apologetic statement: In any case, we regret that some of our friends have seen the other information in it. Racial or gender (discriminatory) backgrounds do not exist and cannot exist (we) because Russia has always opposed xenophobia and discrimination in any form and will always do so. (*Tennis Home Author: Yun Cirrus Yunshu).