According to the rules of the International Skating Union, the team cannot be rejected because of an individual’s doping conviction, says Susanna Rahkamo.
The Russian figure skating team will lose its Olympic gold, but keep the bronze, the International Skating Union ISU says. The medals will be reissued because the Russian skater Kamila Valieva received a four-year suspension from competition due to doping on Monday.
– In the ISU rules, there is no such thing as if an individual is caught doping, the whole team will be rejected. Let’s reject the athlete who has been caught. The rest of the team members collected such hard points that the final score was enough for medals, says a member of the ISU board Susanna Rahkamo.
The International Court of Appeal for Sports CAS sentenced Valieva to a competitive ban due to a positive doping sample.
ISU announced on Tuesday, that the medals for the figure skating team competition at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be redistributed. Russia, which won the gold with 74 points, dropped to 54 points and bronze. The United States, which reached silver, won the Olympics with 65 points, and Japan won silver with 63 points.
– Valijeva will not receive any medals and all other results at that time and before will be invalidated, says Rahkamo.
According to the CAS decision, Valieva’s four-year ban is considered to have started on December 25, 2021. At that time, Valieva gave a test sample containing trimetazidine at the Russian championships.
In addition to her Olympic medal, Valieva lost the European Championship gold, which she won in January 2022. The gold of the European Championships will be won by a Russian Anna Shcherbakovathe silver Russian Aleksandra Trusova and a bronze Belgian Loena Hendrickx.
Valieva’s ban ends on December 25, 2025, which means she could participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina will start on February 6, 2026.
– CAS’s decision means that Valijeva can participate in the next (Winter) Olympics when those four years are up, says Rahkamo.