FFKKR ready to appeal decision to disqualify Valieva and redistribute 2022 Olympic team tournament medals

The Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) announced that it is ready to appeal the decisions of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the International Skating Union (ISU) on disqualification. Kamila Valieva and the redistribution of final places in the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Beijing Games.

On Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) suspended figure skater Valieva for four years for violating anti-doping rules. The disqualification period begins on December 25, 2021. The ISU later announced that all of the athlete’s results from the date of sample collection had been canceled. This also led to a review of the results of the 2022 Olympics team tournament, where the Russian team won. First place is now awarded to the American team, the Japanese are second and the Russians will receive bronze.

— The FFKKR categorically disagrees with the sanction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the disqualification for four years of Kamila Valieva, who, being a protected person, was in reality assimilated to an adult athlete, as well as with the decision The International Skating Union (ISU) will deprive Russian athletes of gold medals in the figure skating team competitions at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

At the moment, the FFKKR has not received any official documents and is awaiting an official notification from the ISU, on the basis of which this decision was made.

For our part, we declare that the FFKKR has taken and will take all necessary measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of our team and of each athlete individually, including before the courts. The interests of our skaters have always been and remain the absolute priority of the federation,” indicates the FFKKR press release.

Before the personal tournament at the Beijing Olympics, it became known that the banned drug trimetazidine was found during Valieva’s doping test at the Russian Championship. The CAS allowed the Russian to participate in the individual competitions at the Games, where she finished fourth, but this result was also annulled. The athlete also lost the title of European champion, the title went to Anna Shcherbakova.