Court of Arbitration for Sport hands Kamila Valieva four-year suspension for anti-doping rule violation

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that figure skater Kamila Valieva committed an anti-doping rule violation and on Monday (29 January) suspended her for four years, backdated to 2021.

Valieva had returned an adverse analytical finding for trimetazidine, a banned substance, during an anti-doping test at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in December 2021.

Her positive test was notified to the then-15-year-old after the conclusion of the team event at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, in which she had helped the ROC team place first and also become the first woman to complete a quadruple jump in an Olympic Games routine. 

At the time, CAS ruled that she could continue to participate in the remainder of the Games, with her results in the team and women's single skating events at Beijing 2022 remaining provisional following the Games while the case was heard. She originally placed fourth in the singles event. No medal ceremony has yet been held for the team event.

After the Games, her case was subject to various proceedings.

CAS has now ruled to uphold an appeal led by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which had asked to disqualify Valieva from the Games and suspend her. A prior decision by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had found "no fault or negligence" by Valieva.

"Kamila Valieva is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 25 December 2021," CAS announced on Monday. That 2021 date is when her positive sample was collected.

The four-year suspension is the standard penalty under the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules when there are no grounds for a reduction. In its ruling, CAS stated that Valieva's age, as she was a minor at the time of the test, cannot be used to reduce her punishment.

Her suspension will run through the end of 2025. All her competitive results since the date of her failed test have been disqualified.

The CAS decision can only be appealed to the Swiss Federal Tribunal on limited grounds within 30 days.

The CAS media release can be viewed here. The full arbitral award has yet to be published due to confidentiality concerns.

IOC and WADA react to ruling

In response to the decision, an IOC spokesperson said:

"The IOC welcomes the fact that the CAS ruling provides clarity in this case, and the athletes from the team figure skating competition at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 can finally get their medals, for which they have been waiting so long.

"The IOC is now in a position to award the medals in accordance with the ranking, which has to be established by the International Skating Union (ISU). We have great sympathy with the athletes who have had to wait for two years to get the final results of their competition.

"The IOC will contact the respective NOCs in order to organise a dignified Olympic medal ceremony.

"This case, and its circumstances, are further proof of the need to address the part played by the athletes’ entourage in doping cases. This is even more important if the athletes are minors, who are even more reliant on their entourage.”

WADA said in a statement: "The doping of children is unforgivable. Doctors, coaches or other support personnel who are found to have provided performance-enhancing substances to minors should face the full force of the World Anti-Doping Code.

"Indeed, WADA encourages governments to consider passing legislation – as some have done already – making the doping of minors a criminal offence."

Event results changed

The CAS statement noted: "The consequences linked to the retroactive disqualification of Ms Valieva from past events, including from the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, were not within the scope of this arbitration procedure and will have to be examined by the sports organisations concerned."

That meant the International Skating Union, which oversees the sport of figure skating, was left in charge of establishing the final rankings for the affected events.

It has now decided that her individual results will be disqualified, meaning all women's singles skaters at Beijing 2022 who originally placed fifth or lower now move up one spot.

Additionally, her results in the team event are now excluded from the final score, promoting USA to first place and Japan to second. The ISU chose to only remove Valieva's results, meaning ROC's other skaters obtained enough points to finish third, with all other teams staying in their respective positions.

The other event affected is the 2022 ISU European Figure Skating Championships, which took place in January 2022 and Valieva had originally placed first in. Her teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova are promoted to gold and silver, with Belgium's Loena Hendrickx receiving bronze.