Beijing — A teenage Russian figure skater, Kamila Valieva, has been cleared to compete at the women’s competition at The Winter Olympics.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport issued its ruling within 12 hours of an extremely rushed hearing that lasted until Monday morning. The court ruled that the 15-year old, who is the favourite for the women’s individual medal, does not need to be temporarily suspended in order to conduct an investigation into her positive results.
“The panel believed that preventing an athlete from competing at the Olympics would cause her irreparable injury in the circumstances,” Matthieu Reeb, Director General of CAS, stated.
Valieva, along with her Russian counterparts, can now aim for the first podium sweep in women’s figure skaters’ Olympic history. The short program starts Tuesday, and ends Thursday with the free skating. She is the favourite for the gold medal in individual event.
Valieva skated in the allotted time slot shortly after the decision was made.
The Reuters news agency stated that Monday’s ruling does not address the merits of Valieva’s drug case. It only addresses whether Valieva is allowed to continue skating until her case is resolved. It doesn’t even decide the fate for the one gold medal she won in the team event, however.
According to the International Olympic Committee, there will not be a Beijing medal ceremony if Valieva finishes in the top three of the women’s individual events. There will also be no medal ceremony for team events. Russia was awarded gold last week with the help of Valieva.
Court of Arbitration for Sport judges cleared her Monday to compete starting Tuesday, even though she failed a drug test before the Olympics.
However, Russia must conduct a separate investigation into the possible doping offense. This could take many months.
According to the court, it was favorable because she was a minor “protected individual” and was subjected to different rules than an adult athlete.
In addition to fundamental fairness issues, the panel noted that she had tested clean in Beijing and that her positive test result was not notified in a timely manner.
Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, stated that the decision sends a disappointing message. She stated that athletes are being denied the right of knowing they are competing on a level playing ground, and added that this is part of a systemic disregard by Russia for clean sports.
Hirshland stated that “We know this case has not been closed” and urged everyone in the Olympic Movement, Reuters reported.
Travis Tygart, the CEO of U.S. Anti-Dopipng Agency, used stronger language, Reuters reports. He said, “Only Time will tell if Valieva should be competing in these Games, and whether or not all her results will be disqualified.” Russia has taken over the Olympic Games for the sixth time, stealing the opportunity from both clean athletes as well as the public. This young athlete was unfairly thrown into chaos by both the Russians as well as the global anti-doping program.
Predictably, the Russian camp was not as impressed with their reaction. Reuters reports that the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Sports called the court decision “the only right, fair and proper decision.” According to the Russian Olympic Committee, it is not known how many tears or what moral strength this crazy situation has cost Kamila. … We know that we can cheer for her tomorrow and Thursday with all our strength.
Valieva was tested positive for the heart drug Trimetazidine at the Russian Nationals on Dec. 25, but the Swedish lab result didn’t come out until one week later, after Valieva had helped the Russian Olympic Committee win team gold.
Although the reason for the six-week delay is not clear, Russian officials suggested that it may have been due to a January spike in Omicron variant cases. This affected the staffing at the laboratory.
She was immediately suspended by the Russian anti-doping Agency. The ban was lifted a day later and limbo was created for the awarding the medals. An expedited hearing was scheduled for Sunday night after the IOC and other parties appealed. Valieva testified via video conference.
Under-16 athletes like Valieva have greater rights under anti-doping rules, and are typically not held accountable for using banned substances. Any future investigation will focus on her team, including coaches, doctors and nutritionists.
When Valieva won the gold medal in the team event with the Russian Olympic Committee, on Monday, she landed the quadruple jumps for the first time by a woman at Olympics.
She could take that medal and any other medals she wins in the individual competition. If the Russian medal is removed, the U.S. would win silver and be eligible for gold.
These issues will be addressed in a separate investigation, more long-term, of the positive doping testing that was conducted by RUSADA in St. Petersburg.
