The doping case of teenage Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva that shocked the 2022 Beijing Olympics returns to the highest court in sports on Tuesday.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport begins a hearing set for at least three days with Valieva, now aged 17, expected to testify by video link from Russia in a case that was slow-walked in her home country and could now deliver a verdict by the end of the year.
Awaiting the outcome are nine American skaters who could become Olympic champions in the team event after finishing second in Beijing behind the Russians and their star performer Valieva.
The center of Valieva’s defense has been that her positive test for a heart medication banned in sports was caused by accidental contamination – maybe from a glass or plate – by tablets her grandfather claimed he took.
Valieva and her legal team “intend to conduct further investigation and present the results” at future hearings in the case, the first Russian anti-doping tribunal to judge the case said in February last year.
The key future hearing is now about to start – more than 19 months after a first CAS panel of judges let Valieva continue skating in Beijing despite a failed doping test on her record.
This appeal hearing was brought by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Skating Union. They have challenged a Russian ruling belatedly announced in January that Valieva, as an underage minor at the time, was not at fault and should keep her Olympic results.
WADA has asked the three judges to ban Valieva for four years and disqualify her from the Olympics.
“We want a just outcome of the case, based on the facts,” WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald said, adding the Montreal-based agency will “continue to push for this matter to be concluded without further undue delay.”
The ISU seeks a ban of at least two years and disqualification. The Russian anti-doping agency also joined the appeal and suggested a reprimand would do.
Valieva’s legal team will…
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