The Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS published the substantiated arbitral award in the Kamila Valieva case on Thursday evening and thus brought some details to light.
According to the 41-page document, the concentration of the banned substance trimetazidine found in the Russian figure skater was 2.1 ng/ml. This is a low value, which Valieva’s representation explained with the now famous grandfather thesis.
The mother of the athlete testified before the CAS that Kamila Valieva is regularly driven and picked up by her grandfather for daily training. He also often stays with the 15-year-old during the lunch break between two sessions.
A video recording was also shown during the hearing, which the attorney said was made by the Athlete’s grandfather. The pictures show a pack of “Trimetazidin MV” in the grandfather’s car.
Medical expert supports Valieva’s argument
Valieva’s lawyers also presented a medical expert named Andrei Sholinsky. He explained that trimetazidine requires a prescription, is forbidden for children and can cause side effects such as dizziness and impaired balance. He thinks it is possible that it was taken up by contamination.
A second medical expert named Eduard Besuglow referred to a study of trimetazidine use among Polish athletes. Accordingly, a single intake of a dose of 35 mg in a doping test the next day leads to a value of around 1000 to 9000 ng/ml. A concentration of 2.1 ng/ml as with Valieva would speak for a single application about five to seven days before sampling.
The Cologne doping expert Mario Thevis suggested in an ARD interview on Thursday to carry out a hair analysis on the young Russian. “With the analysis, one can possibly distinguish very well whether it was a matter of repeated intake in larger quantities or an accidental single dose,” said Thevis.
Disastrous freestyle cost Kamila Valieva the medal
The banned metabolic modulator trimetazidine was discovered in a sample from Valieva on December 25. The sample arrived at the control laboratory in Stockholm on December 29, according to the CAS ruling. Apparently due to corona cases among the inspectors, it was only evaluated on February 8 – one day after the Russian Olympic Committee won Valieva in the team competition.
After some legal hiccups and objections from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA, the CAS on Monday gave Valieva conditional permission to start in the individual competition.
Valieva finished the short program on Tuesday in first place, but after a freestyle on Thursday with numerous mistakes, she fell back to fourth place.