“Politically biased story”: CAS disqualifies Valieva for four years for violating anti-doping rules

“All Valieva’s results starting from December 25, 2021 are canceled”

On Monday, January 29, the case of Kamila Valieva was put to rest. The main intrigue was whether the Court of Arbitration for Sport would agree with the arguments of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) and suspend her for the maximum possible period or settle on less severe sanctions.

Unfortunately, CAS issued the harshest verdict. The Russian woman was disqualified for four years from December 25, 2021, when a positive doping test was taken during the national championship. That is, she will be able to return to the ice only at the end of next year. All results from the specified date have also been cancelled.

“All competitive results of Ms. Valieva starting from December 25, 2021 are canceled with all consequences thereof (including forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, profits, prizes and performance money),” the CAS document states.

Thus, the fate of the medals in the team tournament of the Olympic Games 2022 has now actually been determined. The domestic team, which, in addition to Valieva, included Mark Kondratyuk, Anastasia Mishina, Alexander Gallyamov, Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, will be deprived of gold by ISU. The Americans will take first place, Japan will take silver, and Canada will take bronze.

According to media reports, the International Skating Union will make a corresponding verdict at a meeting of the organization’s council in Beijing on February 7.

The figure skater herself lost a number of other awards, in particular the titles of European champion and Russian champion in jumping. Several national championship medals will also go to their rivals. And RUSADA left her without the highest award for the same CR-2022.

At the same time, CAS emphasized that the punishment could have been milder if the Russian woman had been able to prove the fact that trimetazidine entered her body unintentionally. But she allegedly failed to do this. The status of a “protected person” did not save the athlete: she committed a violation of anti-doping rules while she was a minor.

“Ms. Valieva must establish on a balance of probabilities that she did not intentionally violate an anti-doping rule by engaging in conduct that she knew constituted an anti-doping rule violation or that involved a significant risk that the foregoing conduct would constitute or lead to a violation of anti-doping rules, which she clearly disregarded,” the Court of Arbitration for Sport noted.

However, either party has the opportunity to file an appeal to the Swiss Federal Court within 30 days.

WADA welcomed the CAS verdict. “The World Anti-Doping Agency recognizes the frustration of stakeholders regarding the time that has been spent on this matter. Without a doubt, WADA shares this disappointment, and therefore at every stage of the process, including the first instance procedures in Russia, insisted on a speedy resolution,” RIA Novosti quotes the agency’s press service.

“Our arguments were neither heard nor accepted”

In Russia, the CAS verdict, on the contrary, caused bewilderment. Thus, the Minister of Sports Oleg Matytsin called for a thorough study of the document published by the Court of Arbitration for Sport from a legal point of view.

“We have always adhered and adhere to zero tolerance towards doping and are doing everything necessary for effective anti-doping activities in Russia - this has been confirmed more than once by the decisions of the UNESCO Convention. At the same time, we emphasize that no athlete should suffer from prejudice for the sake of someone’s political interests. International authorities must prioritize the protection of athletes, which, as we see today, is no longer a priority for some of them,” he emphasized.

And in the State Duma the incident was compared to a demonstrative flogging. Deputy Svetlana Zhurova is sure that no one has been punished so severely before for such microscopic doses of doping.

“An absolutely politically biased story involving the deprivation of a medal from an entire country. It's not so much about Kamila, but about the fact that the team won the awards. They waited so long on purpose. The decision could have been made much faster, since they were confident in it. Why such a severe punishment? If we now raise all such cases, the number of acquittals will be in favor of the athletes,” the Olympic champion said in a commentary to RT.

In turn, her colleague Dmitry Svishchev complained that Russia’s arguments in this situation were not heard.

“This is a tough decision. I didn’t think it would turn out like this, even though it was clear: it couldn’t be done without sanctions. Our arguments were not heard or taken into account. A four-year suspension is too much. In my opinion, Camila and her coaches should now concentrate on work. Valieva's future is her career. Nothing is lost yet, and there will be a chance. Another question is what reasons and arguments are there. We don’t know what really happened, and we’re just listening to different stories,” said RT’s interlocutor.

Sports lawyer Anna Antseliovich also considered the disqualification too long. In her experience, such sanctions are extremely rarely imposed on “protected persons”, since they may not disclose the source of the prohibited substance entering their body.

“This came as a surprise to me. Can this decision be called resonant? Perhaps from an image point of view. As for the legal case, I am not ready to answer this question, since I have not seen all the materials of the case,” she noted.

The lawyer also complained that Valieva, apparently, really failed to prove that the use of the substance was accidental and that she did not set herself the goal of improving athletic performance.

Lengthy consideration of the case in RUSADA and filing appeals with WADA and ISU

In the time that has passed since the discovery of trimetazidine in the figure skater’s body, the fans have managed to get used to what is happening. It seems that the Olympic Games in Beijing took place a long time ago, and the main characters of the women’s singles tournament, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, even retired. Their star compatriot had been waiting for the verdict all this time.

Initially, the national anti-doping committee, RUSADA, took up the consideration of the circumstances, according to the rules. The investigation dragged on, and no statements were made before the agreed deadline, November 4, 2022. WADA accused the lower organization of inaction and filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, demanding that the Russian woman be disqualified for four years.

A few months later, the RUSADA disciplinary anti-doping committee finally made a decision. They found no evidence of the girl’s negligence and limited themselves to canceling her results at the 2022 Championships, where Valieva won.

The reaction of WADA and ISU was lightning fast. The organizations lodged an appeal with CAS in February last year. They did not agree that the Russian woman was not negligent and demanded that she be suspended for the maximum possible period of four years. And USADA CEO Travis Tigert announced the need to hold public and as expedited hearings as possible so that the skaters finally receive medals for the Olympic team tournament in Beijing. Moreover, the US Olympic figure skating team sent a letter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport requesting admission of a representative.

The request was not granted, and the hearings took place at the end of September. But based on their results, no verdict was made. Another meeting was scheduled for November. This was explained by the need to prepare additional documentation. Finally, after a month and a half, the consideration of the case by CAS officially ended, and they promised to put an end to it at the end of January.