The World Anti-Doping Agency announced on Tuesday to bring the case of the underage skater, who tested positive during the Beijing Games, before the highest sports court because of the lack of “progress” in the Russian procedure.
The patience of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has its limits. His boss Witold Banka announced on Tuesday evening that he had seized the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the doping case of Russian skater Kamila Valieva, for lack of efforts on the part of Russian anti-doping to resolve the case.
The rising 16-year-old skating star had been tested positive by the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) at the end of December 2020 to a banned substance, trimetazidine, a result revealed during the Beijing Olympics in February last. “Despite Rusada’s formal notice” to quickly resolve the case of Kamila Valieva, “No progress has been made. Therefore, I can confirm that WADA has now formally seized the Court of Arbitration for Sport directly.”the highest court to handle doping cases, WADA President Witold Banka said on Twitter.
The mute Russian agency
Concerned by the delay in this file, the World Anti-Doping Agency had informed its Russian counterpart of its intention to use this direct referral, provided for by the World Anti-Doping Code in the event of “failure by an Anti-Doping Organization to render a decision within a reasonable time”.
On October 21, Rusada announced that she would not communicate on the Kamila Valieva investigation. “All of the information” regarding this matter, “hearing date, charge, results or other details will remain confidential”, wrote the Russian agency. And this, so “to guarantee the interests” of the skater, considered by the World Anti-Doping Code as a “protected person” since she was under 16 when the case broke.
The Olympics had started ideally for Valieva, European champion 2022, with a team gold medal, embellished on her part with the first quadruple women’s jumps in Olympic history. But the day after this title, a positive doping control for a prohibited substance (trimetazidine) dating from December 25 and notified on February 8, had made him live through hell. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had authorized her to continue to participate despite her positive control, citing her young age.
After having managed to dominate the short program in a heavy climate, she had collapsed in the free program to finally finish at the foot of the podium and in tears. The International Olympic Committee has yet to award medals for the team event, pending the results of the investigation into the Valieva case.