Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva received a four-year ban after she was found guilty of an anti-doping violation by Switzerland's Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday. The ban is backdated to Dec. 25, 2021.
As a result of the ban, which disqualified all the points Valieva earned during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the United States figure skating team will receive a gold medal for its showing in the 2022 Olympic games. Japan has now moved to silver, while the Russian Olympic Committee slides down to bronze. On Monday night, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee released a statement saying its CEO Sarah Hirschland "confirms she spoke with the IOC this evening and received the awesome news that the 2022 US Figure Skating team event athletes have been awarded the gold medal in the team competition."
Canada's figure skating team placed fourth in the 2022 Olympics, but hoped to move into medal position by virtue of Valieva's ban. That didn't happen, leaving the team "extremely disappointed" as it now plans to "consider all options to appeal this decision."
A time or place hasn't been revealed for a potential medal ceremony, but the International Olympic Committee stated they would organize "a dignified Olympic medal ceremony" to honor the United States, Japan and Canada for their performances.
After the team figure skating event at the 2022 Olympics, Valieva, 17, tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication that can boost endurance.
On Monday, the CAS announced the ban includes "the disqualification [of] all competitive results" achieved by Valieva since testing positive.
Before Valieva's ban, Russian Olympic Committee had finished first in the figure skating event at Beijing, ahead of the United States and Japan. No medals were handed out as a result of the doping controversy.
"The consequences linked to the retroactive disqualification of Ms Valieva from past events, including from the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, were not within the scope of this arbitration procedure and will have to be examined by the sports organisations concerned," a statement from the CAS read.
In December 2022, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency stated Valieva had no fault "fault or negligence" for her positive test from the year before. She said that the drug was taken accidentally.
