At the Olympics in Beijing, the doping revelations surrounding Kamila Valiyeva made headlines. Now – over two years later – the ice skating prodigy is banned.
Almost two years after the Olympic scandal involving Kamila Waliyeva, the Russian figure skater was subsequently banned for four years by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport. This means that Russia’s team is also likely to lose the team gold it won with the then 15-year-old at the Winter Games in Beijing.
The US selection would then be declared Olympic champions. According to the published Cas decision, Waliyeva’s ban begins retroactively from December 25, 2021. The case of Valiyeva, now 17 years old, has been keeping sports lawyers busy since the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. After the team competition, the figure skater had a positive doping test. Valiyeva tested positive for the banned drug trimetazidine at the national championships in December 2021.
Olympic freestyle in tears
Since Valiyeva was only 15 years old at the time, she was considered a “protected person” under the World Anti-Doping Code whose identity could not have been disclosed. The secrecy failed. Walijewa’s legally enforced start in the Olympic women’s singles ended as a scandal with a tearful routine, the favorite only ended up in fourth place.
The Cas sports judges took over the case in autumn 2022 because the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and the World Ice Skating Association (Isu) had lodged an objection against the ruling by the Russian anti-doping agency Rusada. Rusada had only stripped Valiyeva of the national championship title, but had not imposed any further sanctions. “No guilt or negligence” could be proven.
WADA initiated the CAS procedure to obtain a four-year ban for Waliyeva. The Isu wanted the Court of Arbitration for Sports to impose “a ban at its own discretion” and make a final decision on the results of the team competition at the 2022 Olympics. On the other hand, Rusada demanded that Valiyeva be allowed to sanction autonomously in accordance with its guidelines.