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Athletes complain of double standard in Valieva doping case · Apple News Today

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  Duarte Geraldino, Narrating: Good morning! It's Thursday, February 17th. I'm Duarte Geraldino.
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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: And I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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  Geraldino: Russian skater Kamila Valieva did not finish in the top three of the Olympic figure skating competition. After an intense global focus on her positive test for a banned substance, she made several mistakes on the ice today. Her team has claimed the banned substance got into her system accidentally, that it was in her grandfather's heart medicine. But according to a World Anti-Doping Agency document, Valieva also acknowledged taking two similar substances, which are not banned. The U.S. Anti-Doping chief says this raises serious questions about the claim that it was an accident. The controversy, it's gonna go on. Awarding of medals for the team event is on hold until the doping investigation is over. That's because the Russian skaters performed best there.
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  Basu: Many elite athletes have spoken out and said they're outraged that Valieva was allowed back on the ice at all after her failed drug test was revealed. "The Guardian" reports on U.S. sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson, who was a favorite to win gold in Tokyo last year. She was blocked from competing after testing positive for marijuana. Now, marijuana is not considered a performance enhancing drug, but it is still banned. Richardson said she used it to deal with the pain of her mother's death.
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  Geraldino: Richardson recently tweeted about a potential double standard in how Valieva was treated. She said, quote, "The only difference I see is I'm a Black young lady." The IOC pushed back, saying there was nothing in common between the two cases.
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  Basu: Valieva is 15 years old, a few years younger than Richardson. But there's also a prominent case of a teenager held responsible for a banned substance in the past. In the year 2000, 16-year-old Romanian gymnast Andreea Răducan was stripped of a gold medal after testing positive. A team doctor had given her two pills for a cold. They turned out to contain a banned stimulant, pseudoephedrine, found in over-the-counter medicine like Sudafed.
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  Geraldino: In 2015, she requested her medal back. The IOC ruled the Romanian athlete did not knowingly take a drug that was against the rules. But it didn't return the gold. No, instead, it said athletes are ultimately responsible for banned substances in their bodies. This is a legal concept called "strict liability." And so far, many athletes think sporting authorities have applied it far too loosely in Valieva's case.
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  Basu: "Deadspin" commentator DJ Dunson argues that this is all setting a dangerous precedent. He says if a teenage athlete can fail a drug test and still compete, bad actors will try to take advantage of the system. Child athletes already face enough physical and mental pressure. He says failing to crack down on doping could leave them vulnerable to coaches who drug them without their knowledge.
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  When Texas banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy last year, the number of legal abortions in the state fell by half quickly. But as news of this law got around, something surprising happened. A wave of people are rushing to schedule abortions. They're trying to move fast before the 6-week deadline. And many of them are finding out they can't get an appointment in time because clinics are overloaded.
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  Geraldino: So what you want to keep in mind with this story is that when this law went into effect, many people who worked at abortion clinics, they left their jobs. Some doctors stopped offering the procedure. And "The Washington Post" reports the ones who kept working, well, they are now experiencing an unexpected surge.
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  Caroline Kitchener: What doctors started to see were more patients than they were expecting because patients were coming in earlier and earlier in their pregnancy. Sometimes even before a positive pregnancy test.
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  Basu: Caroline Kitchener covers abortion for "The Post." She talked to us about how clinics in Texas are struggling to keep up with demand for abortions now that this new deadline is in place.
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  Kitchener: Everybody was just so anxious. So you started seeing, you know, higher and higher numbers of, you know, people coming in early on. And that really put a lot of strain on clinics that, you know, are currently having staffing shortages and are operating with, you know, far fewer people.
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  Geraldino: She heard a lot of stories like the one a doctor told her about a single mom with two kids. This mother had a rare pregnancy condition which left her too nauseous to work, so she decided to get an abortion.
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  Kitchener: She came in and they did the ultrasound, and the ultrasound showed that she was past the six-week mark, but just barely past the six-week mark. And he had to tell her, you know, as he's had to tell so many people under this law, you know, "I'm sorry, you're too far along. We can't perform the abortion."
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  They couldn't perform the procedure, even though this woman had called the clinic two weeks earlier to try to get an appointment. And this was the soonest they could see her, and yet it turned out to be too late.
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  Basu: Some patients are calling up for appointments and being told it's a three-week wait. I mean, think about the timeline here. In Texas, if you've just missed your period, that gives you a very small window to make a decision before you miss the 6-week abortion deadline. And if you can't get an appointment, that window closes.
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  Geraldino: Meanwhile, clinics are finding it hard to hire more staff to meet demand. That's in part because the Supreme Court is currently weighing a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade. As one doctor puts it, "Who wants a job that might disappear?"
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  Basu: Get ready for avocado prices to go up even more. The U.S. has suspended imports from Mexico, where the U.S. gets the vast majority of its crop. And this is a much bigger story than guacamole or avocado toast. "Eater" reports on how the avocado trade has fueled a wave of violence in Mexico. Cartels are going after farmers, trying to get a piece of a $2.5 billion industry.
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  Geraldino: When it comes to avocados, the U.S. and Mexico have a sort of co-dependent relationship. The U.S. gets more than 90% of its avocados from Mexico, which sends nearly 80% of its crop across the border to American consumers. Organized crime knows there's money to be had in the avocado game, so they go after the farmers. Kidnappings, extortion, theft. These farmers, they're easy targets. One expert put it this way to "Eater," "You can't hide a big avocado grove."
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  Basu: America's decision to suspend imports earlier this week came after a USDA inspector got a threatening phone call. Now, the agency takes this seriously. Back in 2019, armed gangsters robbed a truck carrying a team of American inspectors. Even if imports are restored soon, the impact on Mexican farmers will be painful. Losing access to the biggest market could mean losses for farmers, workers getting laid off, total devastation for the industry there.
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  Geraldino: In the U.S., shoppers should brace for rising prices. Even before the import suspension, avocado prices were going up. They rose about 40% over the last year. One food economist expects prices to keep rising. And you should know, America also gets avocados from California and Peru, but their prime growing season hasn't started yet. Farmers in Florida and the Dominican Republic, they also likely won't be able to fill this gap.
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  Basu: The government in Mexico has not had a lot of success in getting cartel violence threatening avocado farmers under control so far. One public policy expert hopes that the threat of billions of dollars in losses will motivate the government to do more.
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  The doping controversy is capturing a lot of the headlines, but there are plenty of great Olympic storylines beyond figure skating. We've got complete coverage in the Apple News app, including the grudge match between the U.S. and Canadian women's hockey teams. Canada edged out the U.S. three to two, claiming the gold medal.
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  Geraldino: We've also got a story you're gonna like whether you're a sports fan or not. This one comes from "Sports Illustrated," and it might surprise you. Apparently, a lot of Winter Olympic athletes really, really hate winter. The cold, the snow, the thick clothes. [GROANS] I know how it is. Well, they're just not fans of it.
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  Basu: It sounds like a joke, right? Winter athletes who hate the cold. Well, it makes more sense once you hear how some of them train. One aerial skier told "SI" all that flipping and twisting, they practice it in the summer. They learn their tricks over a pool. So the first time that she had to jump on snow, she had to really psych herself up. But she says it's too late now. She loves the sport. She's bought in. But she calls the cold "a necessary evil."
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  Geraldino: Those stories are in the Apple News app, along with all the pieces we talked about today.
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  Basu: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners.
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  Geraldino: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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