Olympic gold is waiting for details

Two sports officials of the highest rank at once – the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach and the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Vitold Banka – expressed dissatisfaction with the classification of information about the results of the investigation into a high-profile and procedurally complex doping incident involving the leader world women’s figure skating by Kamila Valieva, held by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). Because of him, the official distribution of the medals of the team tournament of the Beijing Olympics, won by the Russian team, has not yet taken place: soon after the end of the competition, it became known about the positive test of Valieva, who, due to her young age, is in a special category of “protected” athletes.

On Thursday, Thomas Bach and Vitold Banka, heads of the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency, expressed their opinion on the situation around the investigation of the doping incident involving Kamila Valieva. Mr. Bach did this in an interview with a Spanish publication Marca.

Answering a question about the position of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency in the “Valieva case”, Bach said that he wants “more transparency” in it, and therefore asks RUSADA to publish the data he received. In the words of Thomas Bach, in this case “there will be more confidence in the procedure.”

Soon after the publication of the interview, Vitold Banka raised the topic with a post on his Twitter account. It states that WADA is “concerned about the ongoing delay in the Kamila Valieva case” and also that it “officially notified RUSADA that if the matter is not resolved as soon as possible”, it will “use its right to refer it directly to Sports Arbitration Court. This right may be exercised by an agency under the World Anti-Doping Code if it believes that there is intentional delay in the delivery of a verdict by the National Anti-Doping Authority. Both functionaries reacted in such a rather harsh way to the latest statements by RUSADA regarding the results of the investigation into the doping case, which can be considered one of the loudest and most complex from a procedural point of view in world sports in recent years.

The fact that in the sample of Kamila Valieva, the undisputed leader in the world women’s single skating of the previous season, on December 25, 2021, the prohibited drug trimetazidine was found, became known already in the course of the February Olympics in Beijing, shortly after the end of the team tournament. The Russian team won it largely thanks to Valieva. She brought her 20 points out of 74, excelling in both the short and free programs.

It turned out that RUSADA, having learned about the test, temporarily suspended the athlete from the competition, but the suspension was successfully challenged in an independent disciplinary committee. The IOC, WADA, as well as the International Skating Union (ISU) disagreed with his position and filed appeals to CAS. protests were rejected. The CAS recalled that a temporary suspension could not be imposed on Kamila Valieva due to exceptional circumstances. The fact is that, as a minor figure skater (she turned 16 in April), Valieva, in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code, was the so-called protected person. This status implies the possibility of a special treatment of an athlete in those situations where he commits or is suspected of violating the rules, for example, in the form of a significant, up to a warning, mitigation of punishment. Kamila Valieva, who never admitted her guilt, was allowed to compete in the individual Olympic tournament, but took only fourth place in it.

RUSADA, which was ordered by the international sports authorities to investigate the incident with the figure skater, reported on its completion back in mid-September, referring to the same exceptional status of Kamila Valieva and clause 4.1 of the International Standard for Results Processing. “In order to protect the interests” of young athletes, it allows “confidentiality” of “all processes and procedures related to the processing of results, including the prosecution and the final decision.” The organization clarified that “it does not intend to announce the date of the hearing, the decision or other details in the figure skater’s case.”

The hearings in question should be held in a disciplinary anti-doping committee, which is not subordinate to RUSADA and is formally completely independent. However, there may be several of them.

A Kommersant source in domestic sports management, who is familiar with the course of the proceedings in the “Valiyeva case”, called the classification of information about him “a bad story in terms of PR,” given “how important the outcome of the process is.”

He is unlikely to have a significant impact on the career of Kamila Valieva herself. Russian figure skaters, like representatives of the vast majority of other sports, have been suspended this season from participating in international competitions due to sanctions imposed after the start of the military operation in Ukraine. However, in domestic tournaments, not under the auspices of the ISU, Kamila Valieva can compete in any case. Moreover, she has already won the first stage of the home Grand Prix series launched against the backdrop of sanctions, which took place last weekend in Moscow.

But it is likely that the fate of the gold medal in the Olympic team tournament will depend on whether anti-doping sanctions will be applied to Kamila Valieva. The IOC has not yet held an official award ceremony for the winners of these competitions, waiting for the end to the difficult scandal with the figure skater to be put to rest.

Alexey Dospekhov