Court: Olympic figure skater Valieva can compete despite positive test for banned substance

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Russian figure skating star Kamila Valieva will be able to compete in the women’s individual competition at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The video above includes clips from the announcement of the decision, as well as reaction from an International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson. The decision came 12 hours after a hearing lasted into early Monday morning and despite confirmation that Valieva did test positive for a banned substance before the Olympics began.

“The panel considered fundamental principles of fairness, irreparable harm, and the relative balance of interests as between the applicants and the athlete,” CAS Director General Matthieu Reeb said Monday. “The panel was therefore concerned that if a provisional suspension would be imposed on the athlete, and later at the end of the day after the completion of all procedures, she would not be sanctioned or would have a very low sanction, the provisional suspension would have caused serious damage.”

The court gave her a favorable decision in part because she is a minor, known in Olympic jargon as a “protected person,” and is subject to different rules from an adult athlete. After the CAS decision was announced, the IOC emphasized that Valieva was not off the hook for the doping scandal yet.

“The Court of Arbitration for Sport has clearly expressed that the decision taken by the Ad-hoc Division today is not a decision on whether Ms. Valieva violated the anti-doping rules,” IOC Director of Communications Mark Adams said. “It was limited to the sole question of whether Ms. Valieva could be provisionally suspended from the Olympic competition following a positive A-sample taken on the 25th of December 2021.” This means the United States would still have a chance at the gold in the team competition, should the Russian Olympic Committee be disqualified and forced to give up the gold medals it won last week.

While Valieva will be able to compete in the individual competition, things will look different if she medals. The IOC said Monday that if Valieva finishes in the top three, there will be no medal ceremony during the Games.

“It would not be appropriate to hold the medal ceremony for the figure skating team event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 as it would include an athlete who on the one hand has a positive A-sample, but whose violation of the anti-doping rules has not yet been established on the other hand,” Adams said. There will also be no medal ceremony for the team event. The ceremony was delayed last week following the news of Valieva’s doping scandal.