Anna Antseliovich, head of sports practice at legal agency Clever Consult, spoke about the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to disqualify Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva for four years. In his statement to socialbites.ca, he stated that the athlete’s side has a chance to appeal this decision.
“He can appeal the CAS decision on procedural grounds to the Swiss Supreme Court within 31 days. The Swiss Supreme Court will not deal with this case on its merits, but may recognize that there were some procedural deviations; For example, not listening to a witness, not giving a word to someone. Then the court can accept that something happened that influenced the decision and the decision was made biased,” Antseliovich said.
On December 25, 2021, the banned substance trimetazidine was found in the sample taken from the athlete at the Russian Championship. The fact that the test gave a positive result became clear at the 2022 Olympics after Russia’s victory in the team tournament.
At the same time, CAS allowed Valieva to participate in the individual tournament, with the condition that the award ceremony would not take place if the skater won a medal. Valieva took the lead after the short program, but made a number of serious mistakes in the free skate, which ultimately allowed her to take fourth place.
The disqualification will deprive Camila of many awards she has won since December 25, 2021. The champion of Russia – 2022, the European champion – 2022, the Olympic champion in the team championship – 2022, the Russian jumping champion – 2023 and the silver and bronze medal titles in the Russian championships – 2023 and 2024 lose their titles.
Previously disqualified Valieva named expected.