CAS affirms trimetazidine likely got into Valieva’s system through her grandfather’s drug
Chair of the IOC disciplinary commission Denis Oswald earlier said that a banned substance entered the system of the Russian athlete through a medication that her grandfather took
MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. /TASS/. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has confirmed that the banned substance trimetazidine could have entered the system of Team ROC figure skater Kamila Valieva through her grandfather’s medication, the press service stated on Thursday.
On Monday, CAS denied appeals from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) against the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) disciplinary committee’s decision to lift Valieva’s provisional suspension. On Tuesday, Chair of the IOC disciplinary commission Denis Oswald said that a banned substance entered the system of the Russian athlete through a medication that her grandfather took. Oswald noted that this argument greatly contributed to the decision on lifting Valieva’s temporary suspension.
On Thursday, Russian figure skating star Kamila Valieva, who was in the lead after the short program, took the fourth place (224.09). Team ROC figure skater Anna Shcherbakova won gold in women’s singles event, scoring 255.95 points. Her teammate Alexandra Trusova bagged the silver with 251.73 points. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto came in third (233.13).
Valieva is the youngest participant of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the age of 15. The figure skater is trained by Russia’s merited coach Eteri Tutberidze and is the reigning champion of Europe and Russia. She holds the World Records in ladies singles short program (90.45 points), in ladies’ free skate program (185.29 points) and in the combined result of two programs in ladies’ competitions (272.71 points).
Valieva’s story
The International Testing Agency announced on February 11 that Valieva’s doping sample, collected on December 25, 2022, during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, returned a positive result for a banned substance. This triggered the postponement of the awarding ceremony of the 2022 Olympic team competition, won by Russia.
RUSADA imposed a provisional suspension on Valieva on February 8, but the Russian athlete submitted an appeal and it was satisfied the following day. The previous decision on the provisional suspension was cancelled by the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee.