Beijing 2022
Being a minor and not having tested positive at the Olympic Games, the TAS allows him to continue so as not to cause irreparable damage while the process for alleged doping is resolved.
Despite testing positive for a banned substance in December, young Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva will be allowed to continue competing at the Beijing Winter Olympics. This was announced on Monday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS), which has rejected the suspension requested on Friday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (AMA) and the International Skating Union. The TAS has based its decision on the “exceptional circumstances” surrounding this case, since Valieva, who is only 15 years old, is a “protected person” for being a minor. As WADA and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) do not include any provision on the suspension of protected persons and minor sanctions in case of guilt, the CAS believes that “preventing the athlete from competing in the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable damage” .
The reason is that Valieva “has not tested positive at the Beijing Olympics and is still subject to disciplinary proceedings following the positive anti-doping test that was carried out in December 2021.” On the 25th of that month, after a competition in Saint Petersburg, an analysis was carried out in which she tested positive for trimetazidine, a medicine for angina pectoris included in the list of prohibited substances. Until that issue is resolved, the committee of three CAS referees has preferred not to suspend her from the competition.
Meeting in Beijing on Sunday night to listen to the parties involved, said committee has also highlighted the delay in the notification of Kamila Valieva’s positive, which was notified six weeks later in the middle of the Olympic Games. A delay that “was not his fault” according to the TAS, which considers “appropriate” that the Russian anti-doping agency lifted his suspension to continue participating in Beijing 2022. The analysis was carried out by the laboratory of the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm and the result was not announced until several weeks later, when the child prodigy Kamila Valieva had already dazzled the world with her quadruple jump at these Winter Olympics.
“We would not have this case and we would not be here if the analysis procedure had been completed in a week or ten days, as is generally the case, for example, in the Olympic Games,” CAS director general Matthieu Reeb recalled on Monday. . In addition, Reeb explained that the committee of the highest court of sport “only had to decide on the precise question of whether to impose a provisional suspension on the athlete.” “He was not asked to rule on the nature of the case or examine the legal consequences related to the ban on figure skating, because those matters will be examined in other proceedings … and not necessarily by the CAS,” he clarified.
Reeb also assured that the three members of the CAS committee, “specialized referees in sports law”, had “worked outside of any pressure and influence”. Said panel, chaired by the Italian Fabio Iudica and made up of Jeffrey Benz from the United States and Vesna Bergant Rakocevic from Slovenia, held its hearing by videoconference from half past eight on Sunday afternoon (Beijing time) until just over two early Monday morning. “Although they have specific nationalities, these three human beings have cooperated under a single flag, that of sports arbitration,” Reeb defended.
Being the scandal of these Games, the ‘Valieva case’ has aroused the interest of the many reporters gathered at the Beijing 2022 Press Center, who have tried to ask questions without success. After this decision, which will undoubtedly continue to fuel the controversy, the new prodigy girl of Russian skating will be able to continue fighting for medals while her December positive for trimetazidine, a drug for angina pectoris that is rarely used because it is dangerous, improves performance. physical. Regardless of the final result, the shadow of suspicion once again tarnishes the performance of an athlete from Russia, a country banned from the Olympic Games for state doping that she can only compete under the banner of her Olympic committee. Despite this change, it seems that the old habits remain.