MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will make sure to give Russian figure skaters their bronze medals for the team event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the International Skating Union (ISU) said in a statement to TASS on Thursday.
The awarding ceremony was held on Wednesday in Paris to reissue the medals for the team figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. The US and Japan attended, but not Russia
The IOC press office told TASS earlier that Russian figure skaters were not invited to the awards ceremony due to logistical problems and the current suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), under whose flag Russian athletes performed at the Beijing Games.
"As you may have seen in our communication released yesterday… and according to the IOC Statement, the Russian Olympic Committee could not attend the Medal Ceremony in Paris for the reasons mentioned below: There are no athletes or teams representing Russia at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, as the Russian Olympic Committee is currently suspended," the statement from the ISU reads.
"For this and for logistical reasons there cannot be a medal ceremony, here in Paris, for the Russian Olympic Committee team that got the bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022," the statement continued.
"The IOC will take care of transmitting the bronze medal to the ROC [Russian Olympic Committee] Team. Any questions on that particular process should be directed at their Press Team," the ISU added.
On August 2, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) turned down an appeal filed by the Canadian national team contesting the bronze medal in the team figure skating event at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
Based on the Swiss court’s ruling, the gold for the 2022 Beijing Olympics team figure skating event in China will be awarded to Team USA, Japan will get the silver and the Russians, who competed at the Olympics in China under a neutral status, will retain their bronze.
On January 29, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled to disqualify Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva for four years for violating anti-doping rules starting on December 25, 2021.
The International Skating Union (ISU) decided on January 30 to strip Russia of its gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in the team figure skating event by taking away some of the team’s previously earned points and subsequently awarding it the bronze medal.
The Swiss-based court registered appeals from the Canadian national team, the Skate Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC). Canada asks to downshift the Russian figure skating team to fourth position in the results of the 2022 Olympic Games competition in figure skating and up its team to 3rd position.
Valieva’s 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.