The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cleared Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva on Monday to compete for an individual medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics after the 15-year-old tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
Valieva is subjected to different rules than adult athletes due to her being a minor and being considered a “protected person,” The Associated Press reported. CAS Director General Matthieu Reeb said of the case, “The panel considered that preventing the athlete to compete at the Olympic Games would cause irreparable harm in the circumstances,” according to the outlet.
The CAS panel also called into question the timing of the notification of her positive test result, noting that she tested clean at the Games despite previously testing positive for the banned substance Dec. 25 during the Russian national championship competition, according to The AP. That positive test result, reported by a Swedish laboratory, didn’t come to light until Feb. 8, the day after she and her Russian Olympic Committee teammates secured a gold medal for a team event. (RELATED: Russia Banned From 2020 Olympics, 2022 World Cup Over Doping Scandal)
The World Anti-Doping Agency disagreed with the CAS’s decision, stating, “It appears that the CAS panel decided not to apply the terms of the Code, which does not allow for specific exceptions to be made in relation to mandatory provisional suspensions for ‘protected persons’, including minors.”
I have been delayed in my response regarding Kamila Valieva (ROC) because I was awaiting more official details & because she is a minor.
I can only support a clean Olympic Games that holds all its athletes to a higher standard of fairness. This is devastating for my sport.
— Johnny Weir (@JohnnyGWeir) February 12, 2022
Valieva came into the Beijing Winter Olympics as a gold medal favorite, and Russian skaters are expected to attempt to sweep the podium in women’s figure skating — a first in Olympic history, according to The AP. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated Monday that if Valieva finishes in the top three, there will be no medal ceremony until her case concludes, The New York Times reported.
“Should Ms. Valieva finish amongst the top three competitors in the women’s singles skating competition, no flower ceremony and no medal ceremony will take place during the Olympic Winter Games,” the IOC said in a statement in The NYT. The IOC also said no ceremony will be held for the team event she participated in last week, according to the outlet.