Russian and Canadian figure skaters are vying for the podium of the 2022 Olympics team competition at the sports tribunals set up after Russia's Kamila Valieva was suspended for doping, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Monday.
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After two years of confusion, in late January the International Skating Federation (ISU) stripped Kamila Valieva's points from the Russian team, which was initially first in the event, and demoted them to third place behind the Americans with gold and the Japanese with silver.
That decision, which came following the Russian prodigy's sentencing to a four-year retroactive ban for doping starting December 25, 2021, left the Canadians in fourth place in the event while hoping to regain the bronze medal.
The eight members of the Canadian skating team therefore turned to CAS to secure third place, supported by the Canadian Skating Association and the Canadian Olympic Committee.
But in three separate proceedings, the Russian Olympic Committee, the Russian Skating Federation and six Russian figure skaters – including Kamila Valieva – also challenged the ISU's decision, this time asking to be reinstated to the top of the ISU with the gold medal.
“Given the status of the proceedings, no information can be given about the date of a possible hearing,” says a press release from the CAS.
For its part, the International Olympic Committee has not yet indicated on what date and location the medal ceremony will take place, while the Americans have called for the organization of a podium in Paris on the occasion of the 2024 Olympics this summer.
Kamila Valieva, then 15 years old, was tested positive by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) for trimetazidine, a substance banned since 2014 on the grounds that, during the Russian Championships, which she won at the end of 2021 blood circulation improves Saint Petersburg.
However, since Rusada was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), his sample had been analyzed by the WADA-approved laboratory in Stockholm. This laboratory, disorganized by the Covid-19 pandemic, announced the result in the middle of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, after the team skating competition.