“CAS cannot fully justify Kamila Valieva” – Kommersant FM

The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne will conclude the hearings in the case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. CAS began proceedings on 26 September. WADA demands that the most severe sanctions be applied to the athlete and that the skater be disqualified for four years for a positive doping test that was made public at the Beijing Olympics. Will Valieva be punished? Or will the star skater manage to avoid strict penalties? Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov looked into it.

To immediately get away from emotional reasoning, you need to voice the fact that Kamila Valieva has already been found guilty of doping. Because the banned substance trimetazidine was found in her sample. Moreover, the athlete admitted this, but her representatives insisted that the drug entered the body accidentally. It was then that the version with the grandfather was born, who allegedly took this medicine, and the granddaughter simply drank from his glass.

The main thing is that no one denied the presence of the drug in the athlete’s body. This means that the Court of Arbitration for Sport cannot fully acquit Valieva. And the reasoning on the topic that she is being judged just like that is more of an emotion. Another question is what punishment the athlete will receive for her violation. WADA is asking for a four-year ban. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency insists that the violation is minor, assures RUSADA supervisory board member Oleg Barabanov:

“It may be a matter of minor fault or negligence and the appropriate sanction includes a warning.”

The main question in this story is whether Valieva’s Beijing Olympic gold medal will be taken away from her in the group tournament or not? And discussing this topic, many experts assure us that the case is politically motivated, and three arbitrators from the USA, France and Great Britain simply will not be able to make an informed decision.

But it is worth recalling that it was the CAS referees who allowed Kamilla Valieva to compete in the individual Olympic tournament, despite a positive doping test and deafening hysteria from representatives of other countries, led by the United States. So there is no point in reproaching judges for bias, argues controversial lawyer Artem Patsev:

“The composition of the arbitrators is quite serious. I am sure that they will not be guided by any calls, especially since the arbitration panel is the same three arbitrators who refused to allow representatives of the US figure skating team to participate in the case even as spectators.”

By the way, those who claim that doping in figure skating is useless should be reminded about endurance, which is necessary for any skater to perform those incredible Ultra C elements. So the arguments that we often hear in defense of Kamila Valieva will definitely not work in Court of Arbitration for Sport. And yet, there is a chance that the Russian woman’s punishment will be mild, sports lawyer Artem Patsev told Kommersant FM:

“She enjoys the status of a protected person, which significantly reduces the level of need to prove certain circumstances that exist in the case. In this part, you should really expect that the punishment will be completely different from what WADA requires. There will be some kind of sanction. God grant that this does not constitute some kind of sports disqualification, because then it would mean the annulment of the result achieved at the Olympic Games in Beijing.”

Valieva had the status of a protected person, since at the time of the first proceedings the athlete was not even 16 years old. Now Kamila is 17 years old, and they still cannot put pressure on her until she officially comes of age. The skater gave testimony in court via video link. Unless something extraordinary happens, the decision will be announced in the coming days. And whatever it may be, if Valieva is left with the Beijing gold medal, it can be called a victory.

---

Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.