figure skating
IOC on the Valiyeva case: clarity created
Almost two years after the Olympic scandal involving Kamila Waliyeva, the Russian figure skater was subsequently banned for four years by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport. photo
© Andrew Milligan/PA Wire/dpa
Following the verdict in the doping case involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valiyeva, the medals from the team competition at the 2022 Beijing Games can finally be redistributed. Gold now goes to the USA.
The International Olympic Committee welcomes the doping case involving the Russian figure skater Kamila Valiyeva has finally gained clarity.
According to the ruling of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), the athletes in the Olympic team competition in Beijing 2022 can now “receive their medals for which they have been waiting for so long,” said an IOC spokesman in response to a dpa request. Waliyeva, now 17, was subsequently banned by Cas for four years
“The IOC is now in a position to award the medals according to the ranking list to be drawn up by the International Skating Union (Isu),” it said. “We have great sympathy for the athletes who had to wait two years for the final results of their competition.”
Ex-European champion Valiyeva’s positive doping test only became known after the team competition at the Winter Games. She was tested for the banned drug trimetazidine at the national championships in December 2021
After Russia was disqualified, the USA moved into gold ahead of Japan and Canada. The relevant National Olympic Committees will now be contacted to organize “a worthy Olympic medal ceremony,” said the IOC spokesman. The IOC is said to have informed the US National Olympic Committee of this on Monday, the AP news agency and the newspaper “USA Today” reported, among others.
“This case and its circumstances are further evidence of the need to address the role played by the athletes’ environment in doping cases,” the IOC stressed. “This is even more important when the athletes are minors who are even more dependent on their companionship.” Kamila Valiyeva was 15 years old at the time of her Olympic start.