The World Anti-Doping Agency is bringing the case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valiyeva to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport and demanding a four-year ban. The anti-doping agency in Russia waived a penalty for the 16-year-old in mid-January.
The World Anti-Doping Agency WADA is taking action against a decision from Russia in the doping case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valiyeva and is continuing to demand a four-year ban. Last month, 16-year-old Valiyeva, who had been hailed as a child prodigy, was acquitted of a culpable doping offense by the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA. WADA sees this as “wrong” and has now appealed to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS.
In addition to a four-year ban, WADA is also demanding that Valiyeva withdraw all results since December 25, 2021. On that day, she had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian championships. The deletion of the results would also affect the Russian team that won gold in Beijing. The USA would then be the winners ahead of Japan and Canada. The only sanction RUSADA recognized so far was the result of the national title fights.
The case became known at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February 2022 after the then 15-year-old Valiyeva won Olympic gold with the team. A temporary ban had been lifted, so she was also allowed to compete in the women’s singles and finished fourth as the top favourite.
The World Anti-Doping Agency brought the case before the CAS last November, accusing RUSADA of an unreasonable delay in processing. RUSADA initially justified this by saying that the then 15-year-old runner had to be considered a “protected person”. In the arbitration proceedings subsequently initiated by the CAS, WADA had already demanded a four-year ban for Valiyeva.
