Russians lose team gold to USA after Valieva disqualified

The International Skating Union (ISU) has issued a statement regarding the case of Russian athlete Kamila Valieva, confirming the disqualification imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). As a result, the Russian athlete has lost her results, which have been annulled.

This morning, Tuesday, the International Skating Union (ISU) released a statement on the case of Russian athlete Kamila Valieva, following the sanctioning by the CAS panel that heard the case involving the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), the International Skating Union (ISU) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

CAS delivered its verdict on Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva the previous day, finding that the representative of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) had committed an anti-doping rule violation, specifically violating Clause 4.1 of the Russian anti-doping rules of 24 June 24 2021.

In response to this violation, CAS imposed a four-year period of ineligibility beginning on 25 December 2021 from the date of the test that established the use of prohibited substances. This sanction will remain in place until 24 December 2025, unless the Russian athlete can now appeal within 30 days.

While CAS issued the ruling, it is the responsibility of the ISU to determine the final results of the competition before the IOC decides how and when to award the corresponding medals to the athletes. This is why the statement of 30 January 2024 was issued.

In accordance with Article 10.10 of the ISU Anti-Doping Rules and Article 12.10 of the RUS Anti-Doping Rules, Valieva will be disqualified from all competitions held during the period of ineligibility (25 December 2021 to 24 December 2025), including the 2023 ISU European Figure Skating Championships. 

She will also be disqualified from the women's individual competition at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and all her individual results and points in the short programme and free skate competitions will be annulled. As a result, there will be a new team competition ranking, which will be as follows: 1st USA (65 points), 2nd Japan (63), 3rd Russian Olympic Committee (54), 4th Canada (53) and 5th China (50). 

In an individual context, due to the disqualification of the skater born in Kazan, the results of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games show that the skater loses the diploma for the fourth place (a recognition given to those who finish between the fourth and the eighth place).