CAS bans Russian determine skater Valieva for doping
The Court of Administration for Sport (CAS) introduced on Monday that it had banned Russian determine skater Kamila Valieva for a interval of 4 years – with the timeframe starting a number of weeks earlier than the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
“Kamila Valieva is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 25 December 2021,” an announcement issued by the Lausanne-based court docket stated.
Valieva’s attorneys had argued that her constructive check had been brought on by contamination by traces of a coronary heart treatment they stated her grandfather used.
“Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it,” the court docket stated, “the CAS panel concluded that Ms. Valieva was not able to establish, on the balance of probabilities and on the basis of the evidence before the Panel, that she had not committed the (doping violation) intentionally.”
Reallocation of medals anticipated
The court docket added that each one aggressive outcomes achieved from that date ahead had been voided – together with the gold medal she helped the ROC to win within the workforce occasion on the 2022 Games.
As a outcome, the ROC is predicted to be stripped of the gold medal within the workforce occasion. The United States, who had completed second, stand to be awarded gold, with third-placed Japan transferring as much as silver and Canada, who had completed off the rostrum, in line for bronze.
However, the CAS assertion famous that choices equivalent to any reallocation of medals had been “not within the scope of this arbitration procedure and will have to be examined by the sports organisations concerned.”
No profit to having been a minor
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had determined to not current any medals following the workforce occasion, the place the then-15-year-old Valieva was one of many largest stars – simply hours earlier than her constructive check for a banned coronary heart drugs was revealed.
The judges additionally determined that underneath Russian anti-doping guidelines, Valieva couldn’t profit from having been a minor on the time of the constructive check.
There was “no basis under the rules to treat them any differently from an adult athlete,” stated the court docket, which didn’t publish its detailed verdict pending a evaluation of confidentiality points.
CAS stated the ruling upheld appeals led by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which had requested the court docket to disqualify the now 17-year-old Valieva from the Olympics and ban her. A Russian sports activities tribunal had cleared her of any blame.
The ban is to final till December 2025, about seven weeks earlier than the subsequent Winter Olympics are scheduled to open in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Update: After this text was revealed on January 29, 2024, the International Skating Union (ISU) introduced that because of the CAS resolution, the United States can be awarded the gold medal, whereas silver would go to Japan. The ROC can be awarded the bronze medal as based on the ISU’s scoring system, they nonetheless had yet one more level than Canada, regardless of the deduction of Valieva’s factors.
The Canadian federation, Skate Canada, have stated they “strongly” disagree with the reallocation of medals and would “consider all options to appeal this decision.”
pfd/km (AP, Reuters)
