- Kamila Valieva was given a four-year ban, which the US has applauded as a triumph for clean athletes everywhere.
- The US skaters will soon get the credit they deserve, according to chief executive Sarah Hirshland.
- When Valieva was fifteen years old, a trimetazidine test came back positive.
The Russian skater Kamila Valieva was given a four-year ban, which the US has applauded as a triumph for clean athletes everywhere. The 17-year-old will not be allowed to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics after failing a drug test, according to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The US skaters, who are about to win gold medals from the Winter Games, will soon get the credit they deserve, according to chief executive Sarah Hirshland of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
Kamila Valieva
Trimetazidine is an angina medication that is prohibited for usage by athletes. Valieva tested positive for it when she was 15 years old. In February 2022, Valieva made Olympic history by being the first female skater to land a quadruple jump, which enabled Russia to win the gold in the team event.
She was informed the next day that her pre-Games trimetazidine test had been positive—a medication that is prohibited for usage by athletes but is used to treat angina. She may have swallowed it from a tainted glass of water that contained remnants of her grandfather’s cardiac medication, according to her legal team.
After Valieva was cleared by Russia’s anti-doping agency (Rusada), the case was brought before the CAS. Rusada’s decision was appealed by the International Skating Union (ISU) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada); the appeal was heard in September.
Although the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) applauded the decision as well, it claimed that the two years it took to settle the case had “denied” justice.
But Russia denounced the ruling as “politicized” and demanded that medical professionals, trainers, and other staff members who have given performance-enhancing drugs to children be held accountable. The verdict, according to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), demonstrated that “war has been declared on Russian sport.”
The ROC will keep a close eye on the actions and rulings made by international sports organizations and will take appropriate legal action to safeguard Russian interests as needed.
