MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a decision of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) Disciplinary Committee regarding figure skater Kamila Valieva, WADA’s press office said in its official statement on Tuesday.
Last month, RUSADA’s Disciplinary Committee ruled to acquit national figure skater Kamila Valieva of charges regarding alleged anti-doping regulations.
The world’s governing anti-doping body stated earlier in the day that: "... World Anti-Doping Agency has carefully reviewed the full reasoned decision and file related to the case of Russian Olympic Committee figure skater, Kamila Valieva."
Valieva, who is now 16 years old, was the youngest participant at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the age of 15. The figure skater was trained by Russia’s renowned coach Eteri Tutberidze and she is the reigning European and Russian champion. She holds World Records in the ladies singles short program (90.45 points), free skate program (185.29 points) and overall program (272.71 points).
"Accordingly, WADA considers the finding by the disciplinary tribunal of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency that the athlete bore "no fault or negligence" to be wrong under the terms of the World Anti-Doping Code in this case and has exercised its right to lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport," WADA’s statement continued.
"Within the appeal, WADA is seeking a four-year period of ineligibility and disqualification of all the athlete’s results from the date of the sample collection on 25 December 2021. As it has sought to do throughout this process, WADA will continue to push for this matter to proceed without further undue delay," the world’s governing anti-doping body added in its statement.
Valieva’s suspected doping case
On February 14, 2022, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) turned down an appeal filed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) against the decision of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to lift a temporary suspension of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva.
The International Testing Agency announced on February 11, 2022, that Valieva’s doping sample, collected on December 25, 2021 during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, returned a positive result for a banned substance, trimetazidine. This triggered the postponement of the awards ceremony for the 2022 Olympic team competition, won by Russia.
RUSADA imposed a provisional suspension on Valieva on February 8, 2022, but the Russian athlete submitted an appeal and it was granted the following day. The previous decision on the provisional suspension was voided by the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) filed appeals against this decision but the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected them on February 14, 2022. The Russian skater was permitted to compete in the individual Olympic competition and finished fourth.