The soap opera had disappeared from the screens for several months. He returns this week, with the same actors, but a scenario that is still as uncertain. Started in February 2022 in Beijing, during the last Winter Games, the Kamila Valieva affair has a change of scenery. She settled in Lausanne, at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
This Tuesday, September 26, the court opens the hearing in the case of trimetazidine doping of the young Russian figure skater. It should last at least three days, four at most. It will be held behind closed doors, in person and remotely. Kamila Valieva and representatives of the Russian anti-doping agency (RUSADA) will be heard from Moscow by videoconference.
The date of the verdict of the three CAS arbitrators is not known and, barring any surprises, will not be announced this week. We just know that it will be possible for those who are “defeated” in the procedure to file an appeal before the Swiss Federal Court within 30 days.
As a reminder, the case pits Kamila Valieva, world figure skating champion in 2021, who tested positive in December of the same year at the Russian championships, and a trio made up of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Union skating (ISU) and RUSADA. They contest the lack of suspension imposed on the young Russian, in January 2023, by the independent disciplinary commission of RUSADA. They are demanding up to four years of suspension and the cancellation of all his results since December 2021, the date of the positive test revealed during the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.
Through a domino effect, the CAS verdict will not only influence Kamila Valieva's sporting career. He should finally decide, more than 18 months after the Winter Games, the podium of the Olympic team figure skating event. In Beijing, Russia won ahead of the United States, Japan and Canada. But the revelation of the young Russian's positive test led the IOC to postpone the medal ceremony. Since then, it has never taken place.
After the date of the hearing was announced, the American skaters asked the CAS for authorization to attend the discussions, from Lausanne, as observers. It was refused to them.
But at least one of them, Vincent Zhou, does not intend to remain silent when the battle of experts and lawyers will decide the Olympic winners of the team event. Vincent Zhou, 22, individual world medalist in 2019 and 2022, took the lead in attacking the Olympic movement head on for its management of the Valieva affair.
« As my team's empty medal boxes show, the global anti-doping system is failing athletes' expectations, he explained in a press release. The revered elitism of the Olympics is based on the principles of clean sport and fair competition. But the Beijing 2022 figure skating team event awards ceremony, when it finally takes place, will be a symbol of the blatant failures of the IOC, CAS, RUSADA and other global sports administrations. Justice delayed is justice denied, and my teammates and I will never get the chance to stand in front of the world to celebrate a lifetime of hard work culminating in a career-defining accomplishment."
The young American confirmed that he had asked the CAS, along with the other members of the figure skating team for the Beijing 2022 Games, for the right to attend the hearing this week. No result. “ We were told that one or other of the parties concerned should have requested a public hearing, but none took such a step. The procedure will take place behind closed doors. An open and transparent hearing would have greatly helped the athletes understand the decision that will be made. »
Kamila Valieva celebrated her 17th birthday last April. Following the affair, the ISU decided last June to raise the minimum age for participating in an international competition. He will go from 15 to 17 starting next season.
