CNNs —
After concluding that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) had not made any progress in the skater’s Winter Olympics doping case, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sent Kamila Valieva’s case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The Kamila Valieva issue has not progressed despite WADA President Witold Baka giving RUSADA a formal warning to settle it quickly, according to a statement he released on Tuesday. I can thus report that WADA has now formally forwarded it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
When asked if it had received the referral from WADA, CAS declined to comment, but stated that it “will publish a media release after the appeal has been received and registered.”
RUSADA has been contacted by CNN for comment.
The day after Valieva, now 16 years old, led the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to victory in the team competition at Beijing 2022, becoming the first woman to land a quadruple jump in a Winter Olympic competition, RUSADA suspended her.
At the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on February 17, 2022, Russian Kamila Valieva participates in the women’s single skating free skating competition of the figure skating competition of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. (Image courtesy of AFP/Antonin THUILLIER) (Image via Getty Images by Antonin Thuiller/AFP)
Following the Kamila Valieva doping incident, the minimum competition age for ice skating will progressively increase from 15 to 17.
In December 2021, she had tested positive for the cardiac drug trimetazidine, which can increase endurance. But it wasn’t until the Olympics, when it had been examined and sent to RUSADA, that the findings of the failed drug test from December became public.
The positive test findings have not been discussed by Valieva in public.
According to the IOC’s disciplinary commission, Valieva claimed that her grandpa, who takes trimetazidine for his heart ailment, was the cause of the positive test.
RUSADA said in an official statement in October that it had concluded its investigation but was keeping the outcome of a case involving a figure skater, who is a “protected person” and a member of the Russian Olympic Committee, private.
WADA noted in its October response to the RUSADA statement that “WADA is not a party to this case but as it usually does, WADA will assess the result of the tribunal and reserves the right to launch an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, if necessary.”
In order to allow the International Skating Union to “define the definite results of the figure skating team competition at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and the IOC to decide on the medal allocation,” the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated at the time that it expected RUSADA to abide by the WADA code and handle the case quickly.
The IOC has been contacted by CNN for comment.
In the team competition, Team USA placed second, Japan third, and Canada fourth. No medal ceremony was held at the Games due to the doping scandal.
