The International Olympic Committee welcomes the fact that clarity has finally been provided in the doping case involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valiyeva.
According to the ruling of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), the athletes in the Olympic team competition in Beijing 2022 can now “receive their medals for which they have been waiting for so long,” said an IOC spokesman in response to a dpa request. Waliyeva, now 17, was subsequently banned by Cas for four years
“The IOC is now in a position to award the medals according to the ranking list to be drawn up by the International Skating Union (Isu),” it said. “We have great sympathy for the athletes who had to wait two years for the final results of their competition.”
Ex-European champion Valiyeva’s positive doping test only became known after the team competition at the Winter Games. She was tested for the banned drug trimetazidine at the national championships in December 2021
After Russia was disqualified, the USA moved into gold ahead of Japan and Canada. The relevant National Olympic Committees will now be contacted to organize “a worthy Olympic medal ceremony,” said the IOC spokesman. The National Olympic Committee of the USA was said to have been informed of this by the IOC on Monday, the AP news agency and the newspaper “USA Today” reported, among others.
“This case and its circumstances are further evidence of the need to address the role played by the athletes’ environment in doping cases,” the IOC stressed. “This is even more important when the athletes are minors who are even more dependent on their companionship.” Kamila Valiyeva was 15 years old at the time of her Olympic start.
