Should Children Compete At The Olympics?

Kamila Valieva.

You've heard of her, even if you don't KNOW you've heard of her.

She's at the centre of the most recent Olympic scandal, having received positive test results for a banned substance during the Olympics.

She's also only fifteen years old.

I'm not going to debate the process of testing, although I don't understand how this whole debacle actually came about. She received a drug test on December 25th and somehow the positive result was only divulged on February 8th? 

Were the test results lost in the mail?

Amazing.

I have an almost fifteen-year-old son.

He's a really good kid. He plays competitive hockey, gets good grades at school, and takes care of his share of chores at home. But every now and then his behaviour reminds us that he is only fourteen years old.

He's just a kid.

He's still learning right from wrong.

He's still learning how to handle social situations and protect himself from social pressures. 

As a mother, I can't imagine the fear I would feel sending him to the Olympics. 

Trusting other adults to care for him as I do. 

Trusting other adults to support not only his physical health but his mental and emotional health.

Putting him on a plane to a foreign country where his native tongue is not embraced. Where societal norms are different and awkward for him. Where even the food is not what he is used to.

And then to watch as he becomes the centre of an Olympic scandal? To watch as he is judged by the entire world? To watch as the world figuratively shreds him to pieces?

Hell hath no fury like a mother protecting her child.

I can't imagine what Kamila Valieva is going through now. The mental trauma of what she has had to endure over the last three weeks.

Regardless of how this happened, the world must remember that she is a fifteen-year-old child. 

Of course, this poses the bigger question - should children be allowed to compete at this level of competition? Not if they can - it has been proven time and time again that children can compete. 

But should they?

Are they capable of taking responsibility for their actions leading up to and during the competition? 

That is what we expect of the adults. If children are competing with adults, should we not hold them to the same standard that we hold the adults to?

Would that not be the only fair thing to do?

To me, the answer is simple.

Children should NOT be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games - or any other games of this caliber.

They simply are not mentally or emotionally ready to handle the event. The entire event - which is so much more than just the athletic competition.

Let's take Kamila Valieva's situation and make her ten years older. Now she's twenty-five. She's a grown woman, who should have known better than to take medication that was on the banned substance list. If she had mistakenly taken the drug, there would have been no leniency shown to her. 

I can envision the headlines then…

"I didn't mean to!", 

"I didn't know!", 

"I made a mistake!" 

…followed by an article asking just how naive she could be? 

There would be late-night comedy shows with segments devoted just to the character assassination that they would love to portray!

So, why is it different now? 

Because she is only fifteen years old.

How is that fair to the rest of the competitors? Adults who have worked their entire lives for one opportunity to compete at the Olympics. Adults who may never have another opportunity.

For the sake of fairness in sport, healthy competition, and the well-being of our youth, I strongly urge the IOC and every other governing body of this level of competition to instill minimum age requirements.

This should never happen again.

As for Kamila Valieva, I sincerely hope she gets the help she is going to need. I wonder if she will ever have the mental strength to compete at this level again?

I wonder if she even should?

Until next time……………………………………………..XO-JGF