Olympic champion Vasiliev: “I can’t imagine how Tutberidze could not know who defends Valieva at CAS and how”

Double Olympic biathlon champion Dmitry Vasilyev told he couldn’t imagine being a coach Eteri Tutberidze may not have known who provided protection for the figure skater and how Kamila Valieva at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

On Wednesday, Tutberidze published a statement on her social networks in which she questioned the competence of the lawyers who represented Valieva’s interests at CAS. On Monday, the CAS suspended Valieva for four years for violating anti-doping rules. The court release noted that the skater was unable to provide convincing evidence that the violation was unintentional. The disqualification period begins on December 25, 2021. The International Skating Union (ISU) announced that all of the athlete’s results from the date of sample collection have 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.

— It is difficult to answer for Tutberidze. But I can’t imagine how she couldn’t know who is protecting Camila and how, especially since it’s such a momentous event. Valieva should have had the most qualified defense in this case. Since Tutberidze said this and identified this problem, apparently they have not really taken the defense seriously in court.

The verdict is the harshest imaginable. It’s just a shame! Especially in the context of doping cases among Western athletes, where everything is usually obvious. There were even cases where the athletes themselves admitted their guilt and no sanctions were imposed.

And Valieva turned out to have a drug that has absolutely no effect on anything and does not bring any benefit in this sport, and suddenly such a severe punishment,” Vasilyev told .