CAS disqualifies Kamila Valieva for four years

The Court of Arbitration for Sport disqualified Kazan figure skater Kamila Valieva for four years. The disqualification term starts on 25 December 2021, reads the court’s rule.

“Kamila Valieva is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 25 December 2021,” says the press service of CAS.

Apart from the disqualification, CAS ruled to revoke Valieva’s all results in competitions she participated in after 25 December 2021. This suggests that all titles, medals, income, prize and money for performances will be withdrawn.

It is unclear what specific consequences Kamila Valieva’s suspension will bring to, including at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

“The consequences linked to the retroactive disqualification of Ms Valieva from past events, including from the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, were not within the scope of this arbitration procedure and will have to be examined by the sports organisations concerned,” reads the statement of CAS.

The decision of CAS is definite and is subject to execution. However, the sides have the right to appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal. This can be done within 30 days.

Moreover, the court materials indicate that Valieva could have been disqualified for a shorter term. For this, she needed to prove she did not violate anti-doping rules deliberately.

It should be reminded that Kamila Valieva won gold in team event at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. After that, there appeared some information that the figure skater tested positive during the Russian Championship’s free programme on 25 December 2021 — trimetazidin, which is banned in sport, was detected.

She wasn’t suspended from individual competition, however, the IOC warned that in case Kamila Valieva won gold or another medal in the ladies’ singles at the Olympics in Beijing, the results would be considered interim. The athlete, who was 15 at that moment, performed her free programme with errors falling at the very beginning. As a result, she finished fourth. Russian-born Anna Shcherbakova became an Olympic champion.