Russian figure skater Valieva banned for doping, Canada could receive Olympic bronze
Valieva, 15 years old at Beijing 2022, tested positive for a banned heart medication.
Canada could see a bronze medal added to its 2022 Winter Olympics tally, after Kamila Valieva was disqualified from the Beijing Games on Monday — nearly two years after a doping scandal involving the Russian figure skater.
Valieva, who was 15 at the time and is now 17, was expected to be one of the stars of Beijing 2022, and it started out that way as she led the Russian Olympic Committee to a gold medal in the team figure skating competition.
Not long after, it was revealed that in December 2021 she tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance which increases blood flow efficiency and improves endurance. Her defence was that the trimetazidine was in her system due to contamination with medicine her grandfather takes.
Valieva has not competed internationally since the Olympics due to a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and she has now been banned through December 2025 following a lengthy legal process with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Her legal team is reviewing the CAS decision before deciding whether to appeal to the Swiss supreme court, according to lawyer Andrea Pinna.
"Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it, 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,” the court said in a statement.
The International Olympic Committee decided not to present any medals for the team event in Beijing but still allowed Valieva to completed in the singles event, where she finished fourth after falling and stumbling during her free skate. Both of those decisions from the IOC only added to the media storm in Beijing, and have continued to be talking points since.
Now that a decision has been made to ban Valieva, it is expected that the IOC and International Skating Union will strip Russia of the gold medals (that have still not been handed out), and bump every other country up one spot. The United States would take the gold medal, Japan the silver medal, and Canada would rise to bronze after originally finishing fourth.
The ISU is expected to make a formal statement on Tuesday regarding this decision. Should the IOC agree that the medals should be reallocated, that ceremony could potentially take place as soon as the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal.
Canada’s newest bronze medallists would be Roman Sadovsky, Madeline Schizas, Kirsten Moore-Towers, Michael Marinaro, Vanessa James, Eric Radford, Piper Gilles, and Paul Poirier.
"The Canadian Olympic Committee applauds the ruling by (CAS) to disqualify Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva from the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games," the COC said in a statement on Monday. "This decision demonstrates the importance of rigorous anti-doping measures in sport, and we recognize that this is another important case in the fight for clean sport and upholding the Olympic values.
"We believe today's decision is an important milestone in this years-long case. We once again congratulate the affected Team Canada athletes for their incredible performances two years ago, and their enduring strength of character during this long process."
The World Anti-Doping Agency, which led the push to disqualify Valieva from Beijing 2022 and have her banned for the doping infraction, released a statement saying that they welcome the decision.
“WADA took this appeal to CAS in the interests of fairness for athletes and clean sport and we believe that has been delivered through this decision,” they said, adding that “WADA understands the frustration of the affected parties in relation to the time it took to complete this case.
“WADA shared those frustrations, which is why, at every stage of the process, including during the first instance proceedings in Russia, WADA pushed hard for a timely resolution.”
The organization then turned their attention to strongly condemning Valieva’s entourage. While not named specifically by the organization, that group includes controversial coach Eteri Tutberidze, who has been coaching Valieva since 2018.
“The doping of children is unforgivable,” WADA said in the statement. “Doctors, coaches or other support personnel who are found to have provided performance-enhancing substances to minors should face the full force of the World Anti-Doping Code. Indeed, WADA encourages governments to consider passing legislation – as some have done already – making the doping of minors a criminal offence.”
If the bronze medal is awarded to Canada as expected, it would be the second such incident in recent years involving Canadian athletes. The men’s 4x100 relay team had their bronze medal from Tokyo 2020 upgraded to a silver medal after Team GB sprinter CJ Ujah tested positive for banned substances.
Thank you for reading this post on True North. To be the first person to read future posts, and listen to new podcast episodes, subscribe for free using the button below, or share the article with someone you know.