WADA protests against CAS decision on figure skater Valieva

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has expressed dissatisfaction with the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) exit panel regarding Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva.

The athlete was removed from the temporary suspension from the Olympic Games 2022 in Beijing.

The World Anti-Doping Agency WADA has accused CAS, the international court of sports, which had previously lifted the temporary suspension of figure skater Kamila Valieva after a positive doping test. This was stated by WADA President Vitold Banka, whose commentary is given by the agency’s press service.

On Thursday, CAS published the reasoning of the decision on the dispute between WADA and RUSADA, the document consists of 186 pages, informs TASS.

“The full rationale of the CAS decision clearly shows that WADA has successfully proved its case and exposed the Russian authorities’ brazen attempts to manipulate data from the Moscow lab in order to interfere with our investigations. We are pleased that this landmark decision also supports the strong investigative and legal framework that WADA has established in recent years to the benefit of the anti-doping system.However, we remain disappointed that the CAS did not agree with all of our proposed consequences, which, in our opinion, were proportionate to the egregious nature of the crimes committed by the Russian authorities, as they sought to hide the details of their institutional scheme doping”.

WADA said that Valieva’s sample was taken a month and a half ago and sent to a laboratory at the agency, located in Stockholm. On February 7, the laboratory reported that trimetazidine was found in Valieva’s doping test. The agency blames RUSADA for the late doping check of Valieva, which did not mark the sample of the athlete as a priority for study. For this reason, the laboratory in Stockholm did not know that the analysis of the sample should be expedited.

In addition, WADA calls for an investigation into the figure skater’s support staff, who could allow a prohibited drug to enter her body.

Valieva won the gold medal in the team figure skating tournament as part of the Russian national team at the Beijing Olympics. The competition took place on February 7th. The award ceremony was supposed to take place on the same day, but it has already been postponed several times. The next day, the Inside the Games portal reported that Valieva’s doping test was the reason for the delay in the award. Valieva was suspended from participation in the Games, but she challenged this decision.

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