The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not hold the medal ceremony for figure skating teams at the Beijing Gamespostponed since last day 7, nor any other in which the Russian Kamila Valíeva, positive for doping but authorized to continue competing, is involved, according to what the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) ruled on Monday.
The Olympic body will also request the International Skating Union (ISU) to, Should Valíeva finish in the top 24 of Tuesday’s individual short program, a 25th skater will be allowed to qualify for the long program final two days later.
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In this way, the place of the Russian, who is the favorite to win gold, would not prevent another competitor from entering the quota of 24 finalists.
In a statement, the IOC points out that “it must comply with the law and, therefore, allow (Valíeva) to compete” on days 15 and 17 in the individual figure skating event.
“The CAS has made it clear that today’s decision is not a decision on whether Valíeva violated anti-doping rules. It was limited to the sole question of whether she could be provisionally suspended from Olympic competition following a positive A sample taken on March 25. December 2021,” says the IOC.
Decisions not to believe
“The case management behind this positive A sample is not yet complete. Only after due process has been followed can it be established whether Valíeva violated the World Anti-Doping Code and would have to be sanctioned,” he adds.
Based on these arguments, the IOC considers that “it would not be appropriate to carry out the medal ceremony of the team competition”, in which Russia, the United States and Japan occupied the first three places, “since it would include an athlete who, on the one hand, has a positive A sample, but, on the other hand, whose anti-doping rule violation has not yet been established.”
“In the event that Valíeva finishes in the top three in the individual competition, no flower and medal ceremony will be held during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games,” the IOC continues in its note.
When the case is closed, the IOC will seek with the other affected athletes and with their Olympic committees the way to deliver the medals “in a dignified way”. Valíeva, 15, is the first woman to have made a quadruple jump in Olympic competition, She holds the world scoring record and is, along with her teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, a contender for the Olympic title.
He tested positive for trimetazidine, a drug banned in sports and prescribed for adults with angina pectoris. in a sample taken on December 25 in her country, but the Stockholm laboratory that analyzed it did not communicate the result until February 8, in the middle of the Beijing Games and when Valíeva had already won the team gold.
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) suspended her and, after a resource from the skater, withdrew the sanction. After appeals from the IOC, the World Anti-Doping Agency (AMA) and the ISU, the CAS decided on Monday that the skater could continue competing in the Games because suspending her would cause “irreparable damage”, pending the completion of the procedures on the case.
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EFE
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