January 30, 2024, 6:41 a.m. ET
GENEVA – Despite Kamila Valieva's disqualification in a doping case, the Russian figure skating team was on track to win bronze medals at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the sport's governing body said Tuesday.
The United States is the new Olympic champion in the team event and Japan is upgraded from bronze to silver. The demoted Russians sit in third place, a single point ahead of fourth-placed Canada, although they are deprived of the points that figure skater Valieva earned on the ice.
Valieva was disqualified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday from all her events since December 2021 and banned for four years in a doping case that took nearly two years to resolve. She was 15 years old during the Beijing Olympics. She will be 18 in April.
The International Skating Union released an amended points table of the Beijing competition, which took away Valieva's maximum 10 points from each of her two competitions, but did not add an additional point to the other teams below her.
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The final decision on awarding medals rests with the International Olympic Committee, which the ISU said was consulted before fulfilling its duty as organizer to change the result.
“The ISU is in close contact with the International Olympic Committee and relevant ISU member associations regarding the implementation of this decision,” the governing body said.
The decision could be legally challenged by Canada as other teams' points were not increased to reflect Valieva's disqualification.
Canada still gets eight out of 10 from the women's short program and free skate sections, where Madeline Schizas was the skater. Japan still gets nine points each time because it originally finished second to Valieva, through Wakaba Higuchi in the short program and Kaori Sakamoto in the free skate.
Canada's point total remained at 53 and the Russians' tally fell from 74 to 54 – enough for the bronze medals that Valieva's teammates will receive, but not her.
The Canadian Skate Federation may likely appeal the ISU decision to CAS.
Skate Canada did not address the issue of medal reallocation in a statement Monday. She praised the decision to disqualify Valieva, saying it underscored “the importance of strict anti-doping measures and the need for continued vigilance in protecting the integrity of figure skating and all sports.”
A Canadian appeal to the court in Lausanne, Switzerland, could extend the case for about another year.
That would bring to a halt a medal ceremony that was not held in Beijing because details emerged of Valieva's positive test for a banned heart drug just hours after she ran and sealed Russia's victory.
In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Valieva and her five teammates from two years ago are still considered winners.
“After their return from China, we honored these athletes as Olympic champions,” Peskov said. “We are convinced that they will always remain Olympic champions for us, no matter what decisions are made in this regard, including unfair ones.”
The next scheduled meeting of the IOC board is March 19-21 in Lausanne, at the same time Canada hosts the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal.
The Olympic leadership is in South Korea for the Youth Winter Games and could address the medal issue in ice skating there.