Athletistic / Figure skating. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled on the doping case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. The athlete was found guilty of violating anti-doping rules and was suspended for four years.

The decision was expected

Valieva’s doping saga lasted two years. Recall that the participants in the team championship of the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing (China) have not yet received medals. Naturally, such a delay caused discontent. The American skaters, who would receive gold if the Russian team’s results were overturned, were particularly nervous. They came second at the Olympics.

Kamila was punished as severely as possible. Everything ended badly. Valieva was found guilty of intentional use of a prohibited substance. The decision to sanction is entirely expected, given the current situation in the world, and the trail of doping by Russian athletes has not disappeared.

Disqualification begins on December 25, 2021. In other words, the skater will not be able to return to competitions until the end of 2025! This is the maximum length of suspension required by the International Skating Union (ISU) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The gist of the trial was that Valieva did not deny the presence of trimetazidinia in the positive drug test. The Russian’s defense was never able to prove that the violation was not intentional.

The CAS decided that it was not possible to reduce the sanction given the lack of substantial evidence of an unintentional violation of the rules. At the same time, they did not make any concessions to the minor Valieva. Once you compete at the adult level, that means you are an adult.

What will happen to the team championship gold medals?

The main question is: what will happen to the Olympic team championship medals from now on? Kamila herself was stripped of all medals, titles and cash prizes upon her disqualification. Officially, Valieva ceased to be Olympic champion in Beijing. But the team itself is not yet deprived of medals.

Recall that the team at the Beijing Olympics in the team championship included Mark Kondratyuk, Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Gallyamov and Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov. From now on, the fate of the medals will be decided by the ISU. The organization must make a final decision soon. The CAS did not consider the question of the redistribution of medals.

From rage to philosophical attitude

Naturally, the verdict in the Valieva case became the main topic of the day. And the comments about it were very colorful.

As expected, former Russian skaters and experts reacted very harshly to the CAS decision.

“Four years is a kind of exemplary flogging, I don’t understand why such a decision was made,” said former figure skater Betina Popova in an interview with RB Sport.

“It was impossible to expect a different result, but the punishment is very cruel. I don’t know what this is connected with, we only have the result. Everything else is divination,” he told TASS triple Olympic champion Irina Rodnina. .

“It’s a terrible decision. She received the harshest form of disqualification. In my opinion, they destroyed her as an athlete! They did everything they could. Unfortunately, it was planned .

I’m sure Camila will have a great career on the show. I hope she has a successful film career. He is a very talented person. Everything will be fine with her,” former figure skater Alexander Zhulin told Sport24.

“Damn! Filth! If only their children could be judged by judges like them!” – Honored coach of the USSR Tatyana Tarasova said at the Championship.

“For such mini-doses, no four-year sanction has ever been imposed on an athlete. Maybe some sort of temporary suspension, months or a year, but such long-term sanctions have never been applied, even in cases of psychotropic or anabolic substances. steroids, where the deadlines were shorter, especially for the first violation. This situation with the disqualification of Kamila Valieva is absolutely politicized and is associated with the deprivation of a medal for the “the whole country. It is important to emphasize that it is not only about Kamila, but about the fact that her success was achieved by the team,” said Russian State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova “RT in Russian”.

“It’s a shame, of course. But there is no smoke without fire. We have to understand that our team is responsible. Kamila was not aware of this. She trusts the club where she trains. C “It’s a situation where the adults who worked with her take responsibility”, – Sport24 quotes former track and field athlete Yolanda Chen.

“Valieva was sentenced to the maximum sentence. To be honest, I am not very surprised. Some were hoping for a more favorable outcome, but in this situation, taking into account international standards, it was unlikely. We will of course lose “It is important to continue to develop the sport in the country,” said “Championship” commentator Dmitry Guberniev.

Anton Mozgovoy, Athletistic


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