“The strength of lawyers and a competent strategy are not the last factor” – Kommersant FM
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The Russian Olympic Committee is appealing to CAS the deprivation of a gold medal in the team figure skating tournament. Earlier, the International Skating Union (ISU) decided that the Russians would drop to third place at the end of the competition in Beijing in 2022 after the disqualification of Kamila Valieva. Domestic lawyers have already begun preparing the necessary documents for filing an appeal, sports officials emphasized. The Russian side has a strong position, but the gold medals will not be returned, Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov is sure.
Representatives of the ROC reason logically, because the ISU rules clearly state that the consequences of a decision on sanctions against an individual athlete cannot be the basis for revising the results of a team tournament. This works not only in figure skating. For example, at the Athens Olympics in 2004, American runner Crystal Cox was also convicted of doping, although many years after the tournament. The gold was taken away from her, and the team that became the best in the 4×100 m relay was left.
It is clear that a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, now there are new rules and a new anti-doping code. But officials from the ROC in their statement are not without reason talking about precedents in the practice of CAS. I have no doubt that more recent stories have been found. But it’s hard to believe in a positive outcome of this lawsuit, and it’s not about politics.
After all, even during the SVO, CAS made decisions in favor of the Russians – that’s a fact. For example, the head of the Russian Weightlifting Federation, Maxim Agapitov, won the case. A little earlier, CAS acquitted Russian hurdler Sergei Shubenkov. In general, the situation there was terrible: a prohibited drug was found in Sergei’s blood, and lawyers proved that it was prescribed to his three-month-old son and entered the athlete’s body by accident. The Russian was acquitted! So the strength of lawyers and sound strategy are not the last factor in any story, as well as the foresight of sports managers who have the wisdom to make informed decisions.
And in Russian sports, unfortunately, for many years we have been hearing how we are offended, and we constantly talk about political orders. They, of course, are present, it’s stupid to deny, but the impression is that the Russian side in high-profile stories is constantly inferior, as they say, to the point. The story with Valieva only confirms this.
On one of the sports websites, after the OCD statement, sports fans, either jokingly or seriously, asked officials in the comments not to start the process, otherwise, they say, after this our skaters might be deprived of bronze medals. People don’t believe in a positive outcome of the hearings, but they will definitely happen.
For OCD as a whole, the situation is a win-win; you can then come up with any reason for the failure. The most common, of course, will be the familiar story of political orders and the standard dislike of the collective West for Russia. About miscalculations on our part they will either say a line or not say anything at all. God willing, this time the arguments of the Russian side will be more powerful than in the case of Kamila Valieva, which, according to independent lawyers, was lost for reasons very far from political ones.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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