Even though Kamila Valieva was disqualified for using a banned substance, the Russian skating team will still be awarded a bronze medal for their performance at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The International Skating Union made the decision on Friday after being the arbitrator of the figure skating scandal involving Valieva. As a result, Canada won't be awarded a bronze medal as they were expected to if the Russian team was disqualified.
If Valieva was disqualified, it was believed that every skater would move up one slot in the standings, and Canada would've had enough points as a team to pass Russia for a bronze medal.
However, according to Section 353.4.a of the International Skating Union's Special Regulations & Technical Rules, "Disqualified Competitors will lose their placements and be officially noted in the intermediate and final results as disqualified (DSQ). Competitors having finished the competition and who initially placed lower than the disqualified Competitor(s) will move up accordingly in their placement(s)."
This particular rule only can be applied to individual and pairs skating competitions, so that's why this loophole was believed to be used to award Russia a bronze medal.
Valieva tested positive for a banned substance, trimetazidine, at the Russian national championships in December 2021. However, those results weren't made public until Feb. 8, 2022, which was one day after she helped the Russian national team win a gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The International Skating Union launched an appeal to CAS, which is the sport's highest court. That came after a Russian investigation decided Valieva was not guilty of any doping infractions despite the fact she failed a drug test.
"After the presentation of evidence by the parties, the Panel ordered the production of further documentation and, in order to allow the parties to consider and address such documentation, allowed two further days for the hearing of the appeal," CAS said. "The hearing will therefore resume on Nov. 9 and 10, 2023 in Lausanne at which time the evidentiary proceedings will be completed and the Panel will hear the parties' closing submissions. The Panel will then deliberate and prepare the Arbitral Award containing its decision."
Despite the positive test, the International Olympic Committee determined Valieva could participate in the women's singles event at the 2022 Olympics.
The ISU was asking for the CAS to strike RUSADA's decision from the record and sanction Valieva with a period of ineligibility. The ISU also wanted CAS to determine the final result of the team event in which Russia won gold.
Meanwhile, the World Anti-Doping Agency was petitioning for a four-year suspension in addition to Valieva being disqualified from all events that have taken place since 2021. Valieva had previously stated the positive test resulted from a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medication.
