Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was allowed to compete at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February despite having failed a drug test in Deccember 2021 and now the World Anti-Doping Agency has now referred the doping investigation to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
RUSADA, Russia's anti-doping agency, was in charge of the case. In October, the agency said they would keep the doping verdict confidential "in order to protect the interests of the figure skater." Later that month, WADA warned RUSADA that they would take court action "if the matter was not resolved promptly."
Valieva's drug test sample in December had traces of trimetazidine, which is a medication used to treat heart-related conditions and a banned substance according to the World Anti-Doping Agency.
"Her argument was this contamination happened with a product her grandfather was taking," Denis Oswald, chair of the International Olympic Committee disciplinary commission, said in February.
Valieva, then 15 years old, was in first place after her short program in the women's single competition, but her graceful skating was not what everybody was talking about. Instead, the spotlight was on her failed pre-games drug test. Although she was allowed to compete, the IOC said that if she earned a place on the podium, there was not going to be a medal ceremony for her or any of the other top finishers because it wouldn't be "appropriate."
Valieva felt the pressure and had a less-than-ideal free skate program, which lowered her overall score down to fourth place. Her Russian Olympic Committee teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova took gold and silver. Japan's Kaori Sakamoto took bronze.
"I can't imagine how tough this has been on Kamila, and it makes me angry that the adults around her weren't able to make better decisions and guide her and be there for her because she's the one now dealing with the consequences," said former gold medalist Tara Lipinski during the broadcast. "And she's just 15, and that's not fair."
