Russia's Valieva cleared to skate in ladies’ singles at 2022 Olympics

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) turned down an appeal filed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Skating Union (ISU) against the decision of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to lift a temporary suspension of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, the court's press office said in a statement on Monday.

Valieva is now allowed to skate in ladies’ singles competitions at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China. The short program is scheduled for February 15 and the free skate program will take place on February 17.

"On the basis of the very limited facts of this case, and after consideration of the relevant legal issues, it has determined that no provisional suspension should be imposed on the Athlete [Valieva]…," the statement from the CAS reads. "The Athlete is a "Protected Person" under the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC)."

"The Panel considered fundamental principles of fairness, proportionality, irreparable harm, and the relative balance of interests as between the Applicants and the Athlete, who did not test positive during the Olympic Games in Beijing and is still subject to a disciplinary procedure on the merits following the positive anti-doping test undertaken in December 2021; in particular, the Panel considered that preventing the Athlete from competing at the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable harm in these circumstances," according to the statement.

The International Testing Agency announced on February 11 that Valieva’s doping sample, collected on December 25, 2022 during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, returned a positive result for a banned substance. This triggered the postponement of the awarding ceremony of the 2022 Olympic team competition, won by Russia.

RUSADA imposed a provisional suspension on Valieva on February 8, but the Russian athlete submitted an appeal and it was satisfied the following day. The previous decision on the provisional suspension was cancelled by the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee.

However, the ISU, IOC and WADA filed their appeals later with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in order to overturn the previous decision of the RUSADA Disciplinary Committee.

"The CAS Panel also emphasized that there were serious issues of untimely notification of the results of the Athlete’s anti-doping test that was performed in December 2021 which impinged upon the Athlete’s ability to establish certain legal requirements for her benefit, while such late notification was not her fault, in the middle of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022," according to the Swiss-based court.

"In conclusion, the Panel determined that permitting the provisional suspension to remain lifted was appropriate," the statement added.

Valieva is the youngest participant of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the age of 15. The figure skater is trained by Russia’s merited coach Eteri Tutberidze and is the reigning European and Russian champion. She holds the World Records in ladies singles short program (90.45 points), in ladies’ free skate program (185.29 points) and in the combined result of two programs in ladies’ competitions (272.71 points).