Russian skater Kamila Valieva suspended for four years

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva is disqualified from the 2022 Beijing WinterOlympics for sports doping, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Monday.

The sentence was set retroactively to December 25, 2021, meaning he has just under two years left to spend away from competition.

All of Ms. Valieva's competitive results from December 25, 2021 are canceled, with all the resulting consequences , namely the withdrawal of her titles, medals and bonuses, decides the supreme jurisdiction of the sporting world in a press release.

The Kremlin denounced a political decision through Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, quoted by Russian news agencies.

Russia should therefore lose its gold medal obtained in Beijing in the team event. Consequently, Canada would be promoted to the third step of the podium, behind the United States, which became 1st, and Japan, 2nd.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for the redistribution of medals and its executive committee is due to meet in March.

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The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) welcomed the court's decision. "This decision demonstrates the importance of rigorous anti-doping measures in sport, and we recognize that this is another landmark case in the battle for clean sport and respect for Olympic values ," the body said in a statement. a statement.

We believe that today's decision is an important step in this case which dates back more than a year, continued theCOC. We once again congratulate the Canadian athletes involved for their incredible performances two years ago and for the strength of character they have consistently demonstrated during this long process.

This decision underlines the importance of rigorous anti-doping measures and the need for continued vigilance, in order to protect the integrity of figure skating and all sports , said Skate Canada, also in a press release.

The International Skating Union (ISU) also reacted positively to the news. L'ISUfirmly maintains its position that the protection of "clean" athletes and the fight against doping are of the utmost importance and the organization will continue its tireless work aimed at maintaining the integrity of fair competition and the well-being of athletes , the organization said.

THECIOdecided not to award medals in the team event in Beijing, where Valieva, then 15, was one of the star skaters hours before she received a positive result in a drug test. trimetazidine, a drug banned in sport.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) welcomed Valieva's suspension on Monday, saying child doping was unforgivable .

Doctors, coaches or other support staff who are found guilty of providing performance-enhancing substances to minors should face the full severity of the World Anti-Doping Code , added theAMA,headquartered in Montreal.

The affair caused a scandal in the middle ofOlympic Gamesof Beijing due to the long delay between the sampling carried out by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA),on December 25, 2021, and its analysis by the Stockholm laboratory approved by theAMA.

Kamila Valieva still has the possibility of applying to the Swiss Federal Court within 30 days, only for limited legal reasons.

Thats said it upheld the challenge from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which had asked the court to disqualify Valieva from the Olympics and suspend her. A Russian sports court, however, cleared her of all charges.

Kalieva's lawyers alleged that her body was contaminated with traces of trimetazidine, a drug her grandfather uses.

After a careful analysis of all the evidence presented, we can read in the judgment, the committee ofTASconcluded that Ms. Valieva could not clearly establish, based on the calculation of probabilities and the evidence presented to the committee, that she did not intentionally intend to violate the anti-doping policy.

Judges determined that under Russian anti-doping rules, Valieva could not evade sanctions because she was a minor at the time of the positive drug test.

There is nothing in the regulations which distinguishes an adult athlete from another of minor age , it was specified in the court document, which has still not published a detailed verdict since confidentiality elements still need to be resolved.

This issue caused chaos at the Olympics since Valieva's sample, which had been taken six weeks earlier at the Russian Championships, had not been reported by a Swedish laboratory before the team event, on February 7, 2022.

Valieva continued her activities inOlympic Gamesdespite the verdict, after a Russian court and a separate committee of theTASspared her because she was a minor at the time of the events.

These distractions caused numerous errors in the individual programs of Valieva, who was nevertheless the favorite to win. She finally took 4th place.

The saga continued off the ice. The reaction of her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, was particularly strongly criticized by experts in the discipline and the president of theCIO, Thomas Bach.

Bach had declared in Beijing, the day after the incident, that he had been very, very disturbed to see the extreme harshness of Valieva's entourage.

The file was transferred toTASin order to challenge a Russian anti-doping court ruling issued towards the end of 2022, which found Valieva to be innocent. This verdict suggested that she would be disqualified from the National Championships, but that she would retain her Olympic results and her gold medal in the team event.

L'AMAhad asked theTASto impose a four-year suspension on Kalieva and her disqualification fromOlympic Games. The International Skating Union instead recommended a two-year suspension and disqualification.