“Canadians have not yet waited for Valieva’s call, but are already demanding a bronze medal” – Svishchev

Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Physical Culture and Sports Dmitry Svishchev told that the Canadian Figure Skating Federation (Skate Canada) is prematurely encroaching on the bronze medal in the team tournament at the Beijing Olympics, since it must wait for the party’s appeal Kamila Valieva .

On Friday, Skate Canada announced it was filing an appeal against the International Skating Union’s (ISU) redistribution of medals from the 2022 Olympic team event. The ISU’s decision was made to the following the verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case of Russian figure skater Valieva. Initially, the Russian team was considered the winner of the Olympic tournament, but after a doping test, Valieva’s points were deducted and the Russian team fell to the third line in the protocol. Team Canada remained in fourth place.

“Our foreign partners decided to win medals not on the basis of sporting principles, but against the backdrop of scandalous and political media hype. Instead of training and winning in a fair fight, Canadians unfortunately want to win an Olympic medal using this same method. Nowadays, no one thinks about the principles of sport or fair fight. The Canadians have not yet waited for Valieva’s call, but are demanding a bronze medal for themselves, isn’t it too early? It is interesting how the Canadian Figure Skating Federation will prove to its own athletes that for some reason they have become Olympic medalists,” Svishchev told .

At the end of January, the CAS suspended Valieva for four years for violating anti-doping rules and annulled all of the athlete’s results since December 25, 2021.

First place in the 2022 Olympics figure skating team tournament is now awarded to Team USA, with the Japanese women in second. The ISU said the decision to redistribute the awards was based on a comprehensive expert assessment and was fully in line with the CAS verdict.