RUSADA will not tell if Kamila Valieva is guilty of doping case

Tomorrow the athlete will go to the first official start after the Olympic Games

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) has stated that all activities related to the Kamila Valieva case are confidential. RUSADA has completed the investigation, referred the case to the Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee, and now everyone is waiting for a decision on the results of the DAK hearings in the near future. But it has already been called confidential. We will not hear any conclusions and details.

Towards the evening of the first official day (albeit a training one for athletes) of the new figure skating competition – the stage of the Russian Grand Prix “Golden Skate of Moscow” – RUSADA issued a statement regarding the case of Kamila Valieva. The athlete should perform on Saturday at the first stage of the Russian Grand Prix and start a new competitive season.

In RUSADA’s statement, all the emphasis is placed very clearly: in order to protect the interests of an athlete, a figure skater-member of the ROC team, who is a protected person, in accordance with clause 4.1 of the International Standard for the processing of results, all processes and procedures related to the processing of results, including the prosecution and the final decision are confidential.

And this means that “in strict observance of the principles of international and Russian anti-doping standards, and also taking into account the nature and circumstances of the case, RUSADA does not intend to announce the date of the hearing, the decision or other details of the case.”

That is: what conclusion the investigation came to, no one will announce. And there is even official confirmation of the correctness of this approach. Lawyers say that both the all-Russian anti-doping rules and international ones provide for such an opportunity not to disclose the results, based on the interests of a minor athlete. And Camila at the Olympics was also a protected person, because she had not reached the age of 16 at that time.

And, if the rules are to be strictly followed, then a positive test should not have been the theme of all the Olympic Games, because the status of a protected person implies that no one should know anything at the time of the investigation.

Will we know the outcome of the investigation? Officially, we may not find out, the rules allow this. Even the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in the event of a challenge to the conclusions of the DAC, can apply a special status of confidentiality. Experts believe that it is the duty of RUSADA to respect the rights of Kamila Valieva, who is a protected person. That is, information is closed not because someone wanted to, but because it should be done in the current situation.

Who will know about the findings of the DAK? Camila herself, ISU, WADA, our figure skating federation, ROC, whose team Valieva represented in Beijing (and our athletes competed as a team of the Russian Olympic Committee).

If Valieva or her representative themselves want to talk about the decision, then it will be announced. If not, then, apparently, we all have to follow the events. The Beijing 2022 team medals were never awarded to the winners (and these were our skaters) and prize-winners. The answer may be exactly this: who will get the awards.