By Matteo Morelli | Images by Melanie Heaney
On this article, we recap how the occasions unfolded and what was the impression of the CAS resolution on the outcomes from the occasions that Valieva competed in, with a give attention to the ice dance Workforce occasion on the Olympic Video games.
The unfolding of occasions
Russian athlete Kamila Valieva is a skater that entered the senior area within the 2021/22 season, profitable each of her Grand Prix assignments (the Grand Prix Closing that season was cancelled). She is an athlete of Sambo 70, the group led by coach Eteri Turberidze alongside Sergej Dudakov and Daniil Gleikhengauz.
On December 25, 2021, Valieva competed on the Russian nationals, profitable the title. Throughout this occasion, an anti-doping pattern was collected and despatched to a World Anti-Doping Company (WADA) accredited laboratory in Sweden.
On January 15, the next yr, Valieva gained the European continental title in Tallinn, Estonia. Due to her distinctive aggressive ends in the season, she was appointed to characterize the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) on the 2022 Winter Olympic Video games in Beijing, China.
The Workforce occasion came about on February 6 and seven. Alongside her teammates, Valieva competed towards the certified international locations to win each segments of the Ladies’s Workforce occasion competitions and contributing to group ROC ending in first place.
The medal ceremony was as a result of happen on February 8, nonetheless it ended up being postponed by the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) for preliminary studies on an pressing state of affairs that required authorized recommendation from the Worldwide Skating Union (ISU). The day after, it grew to become public data that Kamila Valieva was notified of a constructive consequence to trimetazidine from the doping pattern taken the earlier December at Nationals. The Russian Anti-Doping Company (RUSADA) initially indicated a provisional suspension of the athlete, to then carry the choice the day after and permitting her to compete within the particular person occasion.
On February 11, the ISU, WADA and IOC filed an enchantment to CAS to reinstate the provisional suspension. At a listening to on February 13, Valieva acknowledged that the substance was the results of a case of contamination together with her grandfather’s medicines; the next day, CAS decided that the carry on the suspension remained legitimate as a result of distinctive circumstances: the athlete was, in reality, deemed to be a Protected Individual as a result of her age (15 on the time).
The Ladies’s brief programme came about on February 15, with Valieva ending in first place. On February 17, Valieva ended fifth within the free programme, ending out of the rostrum with teammate Anna Shcherbakova incomes the Olympic title.
Workforce USA requested CAS to current the athletes with the Workforce occasion medal, however their software was dismissed.
The investigations and CAS sentence
RUSADA’s investigation had been accomplished in September 2022. On January 13, 2023 RUSADA’s disciplinary tribunal discovered that Valieva had no fault for her constructive doping check, with a sanction to disqualify her nationwide title on the day of the check.
On February 2023 and a yr from the Olympic Video games, additional appeals had been filed by RUSADA, ISU and WADA.
The CAS listening to began on the finish of September of the identical yr, solely to be accomplished in November.
On January 29, 2024, Kamila Valieva was discovered to have dedicated an anti-doping rule violation from her constructive check forward of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The choice from CAS was to ban the athlete from December 25, 2021 (the day the pattern was collected at Russian nationals) for a interval of 4 years, alongside the disqualification of all aggressive outcomes and ensuing penalties (together with forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, income, prizes, and look cash).
Their rationale appealed to the truth that the Russian Anti-Doping Regulation states that the athlete is accountable for demonstrating why they didn’t commit a violation deliberately and as such there isn’t any foundation beneath the principles to deal with them any in a different way from an grownup athlete, thus diverging from the Protected Individual standing initially utilized to the case.
The ISU response
CAS’ jurisdiction restricted to deciding on the case, nonetheless any software of the implications linked to the retroactive disqualification of Valieva from previous occasions weren’t inside their scope and needed to be addressed by the related establishments.
On January 30, the ISU dominated that Valieva could be disqualified from all competitions which came about throughout the interval of ineligibility, together with the European Determine Skating Championships 2022 and the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Video games Ladies’s single competitors and Workforce occasion. This was utilized by disqualifying her outcomes from the Workforce occasion and eradicating the factors that contributed to the group’s totals, with a subsequent re-ranking of the Workforce occasion outcomes.
With the re-distribution of factors on the Workforce occasion, the medal positions modified to mirror the brand new totals as per the ISU resolution.
The ROC group initially led to gold medal place with a complete of 74 factors, nonetheless the disqualification of Valieva meant that the group misplaced the 20 factors she earned from profitable each Ladies’s segments, ending in bronze medal place with a brand new whole of 54 factors. The ROC’s ice dance couple for each segments was Victoria Sinitsina & Nikita Katsalapov, which additionally gained a silver medal within the ice dance occasion behind reigning Olympic champions Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron of France.
Workforce USA, which has been enjoying a powerful function all through this whole state of affairs by continuously talking up and asking for a decision, was initially in silver medal place with 65 factors, nonetheless the ISU resolution decided that the whole American delegation could be awarded the gold medal. This impacts the 2 American ice dance {couples} that competed on the occasion: Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue, who skated the RD on the Workforce occasion and likewise gained bronze on the particular person ice dance occasion, and Madison Chock & Evan Bates, who skated the free dance on the Workforce occasion.
Workforce Japan, initially in third place with 63 factors, moved as much as the silver medal place. Their ice dance group competing in each segments was Misato Komatsubara & Tim Koleto.
The controversy and present state of affairs
Even when Valieva’s outcomes had been disqualified and factors deducted from the entire scores on the Workforce occasion, an argument was raised in relation to all different Ladies’s outcomes on the occasion shifting up by a spot however not being given the related factors regarding the brand new rankings. Though the gold and silver medal place wouldn’t be affected, these adjustments are significantly pertinent for group Canada, which ended the Workforce occasion in fourth place with 53 whole factors.
If the Ladies’s level are amended as per the brand new rankings, Madeline Schizas factors would decide a distinct situation: she initially led to third place in each segments nonetheless, with Valieva disqualified, Schizas moved to second place and if her whole factors modified to a complete of 18 (9 per section) quite than 16 (8 per section) as they at the moment stand, then the entire factors for group Canada could be 55, due to this fact permitting them to finish in third place claiming bronze and ROC in fourth place with 54 factors and no medals.
The Canadian Federation is eager to search out a solution to this query and perceive why a change in rankings was not mirrored in a change in factors. On February 16, Skate Canada and the Canadian athletes from the Workforce occasion determined to formally enchantment the ISU resolution in respect of the bronze determine skating medal on the Workforce occasion.
That is anticipated to impression the allocation of no less than the bronze medals nonetheless, on the level of writing this text, there are nonetheless no information in relation to when the gold and silver groups ought to obtain their medals, or any information regarding a a lot deserved and too late medal ceremony, which all profitable groups needs to be entitled to obtain.
