The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided not to have a medal ceremony for the women’s figure skating team event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games till the case of Russian participant Kamila Valieva is finally settled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Kamila Valieva, 17, was part of the Russian Olympic (ROC) Committee team that won the figure skating team event in Beijing a few days back. It was later revealed that she had returned a positive test for a banned substance on a sample collected in December 2021, following which the medal ceremony for the event was postponed.
Kamila was provisionally suspended from the Winter Olympics but the Russians took the matter to CAS, which ruled that she can’t be suspended till the full process in the anti-doping case is not followed after the positive test on her ‘A’ sample. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) has claimed that the analysis of Valieva’s sample was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and she was allowed to travel to Beijing.
The IOC also said that though it will accept the decision by the ad-hoc division of CAS at Beijing and will allow Kamila to participate in the Women’s Single Skating competition on Tuesday, (February 15) and, if qualified, in the finals on Thursday (February 17).
However, the IOC informed in a release on Monday that in case Kamila Valieva finishes among the top three in that event, “no flower ceremony and no medal ceremony will take place during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022”.
“The CAS has clearly expressed that the decision taken by the Ad-hoc Division today is not a decision on whether Ms. Valieva violated the anti-doping rules. It was limited to the sole question of whether Ms. Valieva could be provisionally suspended from the Olympic competition following a positive A-sample taken on 25 December 2021,” the IOC release said.
“The management of the case after this positive A-sample has not yet been concluded. Only after due process has been followed can it be established whether Ms. Valieva infringed the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) and would have to be sanctioned,” it added.
The IOC also requested the International Skating Union (ISU), for reasons of fairness, to allow a 25th competitor to participate in the Free Skating part of the competition on February 17, in case Ms. Valieva is ranked in the first 24 of the short program on February 15.
As far as the medal ceremonies that will have been postponed, “the IOC will, in consultation with the athletes and NOCs concerned, organize dignified medal ceremonies once the case of Ms. Valieva has been concluded”.
