BEIJING — The fate of Russian Olympic Committee figure skater Kamila Valieva at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games continues to hang in the balance.
The 15-year-old tested positive for a banned substance on December 25, although the results did not come to light until earlier this week. There is ongoing legal wrangling with an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
There are two separate issues: Will Valieva, the overwhelming favorite in women’s figure skating, be allowed to compete February 15 in the women’s short program?
And will the Russian Olympic Committee team, led by Valieva who scored 20 points, remain the gold medalists in the team figure skating event?
The International Testing Agency (ITA) — on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — has appealed the lifting of Valieva’s suspension by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), which had allowed her to continue to train.
“We want to expedite this as quickly as possible,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “It’s a legal issue and legal issues unfortunately can be very complicated.”
The ITA, which has jurisdiction in Beijing, took the unusual action of releasing a statement. Because Valieva is under 16-years-old, she is a “protected athlete” under the World Anti-Doping Code who is not normally named. But with media divulging her identity, the ITA acknowledged “the necessity for official information due to heightened public interest.”
Valieva was tested during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Christmas Day by RUSADA. An accredited lab in Stockholm, Sweden, reported a finding of the prohibited substance trimetazidine on Tuesday, February 8, which was after the team competition had concluded. That necessitated the postponement of the awards ceremony, which set the skating world buzzing.
She was provisionally suspended by WADA, which prohibited her from competing, training, coaching or participating in any activity. The ITA pointed out that it is not managing this case because it happened ahead of the Winter Games.
The teenager challenged the provisional suspension before the RUSADA Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee on Wednesday and a hearing took place that same day. RUSADA decided to lift the provisional suspension. The reasoned decision has not yet been released.
The World Anti-Doping code gives WADA, the ISU, RUSADA and the IOC the right to appeal the decision to lift the suspension. Because the IOC has delegated its anti-doping program to the ITA to eliminate any hint of a conflict of interest, the ITA is leading the appeal before CAS on behalf of the IOC.
Apparently Valieva’s B sample has not yet been tested.