By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Figure skating has been under intense scrutiny after 15-year-old Russian prodigy Kamila Valieva was allowed to compete at the Beijing Olympics despite failing a drug test. (PHOTO: Gallo Images / Getty Images).
The Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has received a four-year suspension for doping, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Monday, effectively stripping the gold medal won in the team event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
A Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) investigation found the teenager bore “no fault or negligence” for a failed test before the 2022 Winter Olympics.
But the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has upheld an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
“Kamila Valieva is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 25 December 2021,” the Lausanne-based court said in a statement.
The court added that all competitive results achieved since that date are voided, including the gold medal she helped ROC to win in the team event at the 2022 Games.
The ban has been back dated to 25 December 2021 and the Cas panel has also ordered “the disqualification all competitive results achieved” from that date.
However, it said the power to strip Russia of the gold medal was “not within the scope of this arbitration procedure and will have to be examined by the sports organisations concerned”.
Cas said Valieva, who is now aged 17, did not contest the presence of a banned substance and it was asked to decide what sanctions, if any, she should face.