“She is ruined as an athlete”: The court rejected the appeal against Valieva’s disqualification Figure skater Kamila Valieva will pay 7 thousand francs to the Swiss court 10/02/2024, 18:49

Valieva’s objection was rejected

The Swiss Supreme Court rejected figure skater Kamila Valieva’s appeal against the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to disqualify the athlete.

“The objection is rejected to the extent that it is admissible” stated in the court decision.

In the objection, Valieva’s side stated that the CAS arbitrators did not have the authority to evaluate the case because the athlete did not give written consent to begin arbitration. However, the court found that the relevant article was included in Article 15.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules. He concluded that the skater had actually agreed to arbitration in CAS, as it was included in the article. Additionally, the athlete’s defense complained to CAS about excessive media coverage of the case. The court found this criticism “wrong” and stated that CAS had the right to issue a press statement due to the media coverage of the case during the 2022 Olympics.

The court also rejected Valieva’s claims against the International Skating Union (ISU) board of directors, which annulled her results at the Olympics and redistributed the medals. The athlete’s defense argued that the panel improperly refused to take into account his minor age and protected person status, but the court ruled that this status required special treatment for athletes “in some, but not all, cases.” Therefore, according to the court, there was no need to impose lighter sanctions on the skater.

“The appellant once again confuses the Federal Court with the Court of Appeals and seeks to draw it into the scope of application of substantive law and freely examine the application of the thematic All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules by referees. In this case, arbitration judges cannot apply the thematic norms of these rules. “This approach is unacceptable,” the decision states.

According to the court decision, Valieva must pay legal expenses of 7 thousand Swiss francs, as well as compensation of 8 thousand francs each to the ISU and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as reimbursement of expenses. .

CAS disqualified Valieva for doping for four years in January 2024, the penalty begins on December 25, 2021; Valieva will not be able to compete in tournaments or train at state skating rinks until December 2025.

After the suspension decision, the intensive care unit canceled the athlete’s results at the 2022 Olympic Games, moving the Russian team from first place to third place in the figure skating tournament. Russia and Canada tried to appeal the decision, but CAS rejected their objections.

On February 7, 2024, CAS published its reasoning in the Valieva case. In addition to the banned trimetazidine, three other permitted substances were found in the skater’s blood. These are more than 50 supplements with ecdysterone, hypoxene and L-carnitine.

“There is nothing else to do”

State Duma deputy, Olympic champion in speed skating Svetlana Zhurova comments “Match TV” He called Valieva “a hostage of the situation.”

“Camila found herself hostage to this situation. No one will accept this anymore, no one will stand up. An incredibly talented girl was taken as an athlete and destroyed,” Zhurova said.

Elena Vyalbe, President of the Russian Ski Racing Federation (RFSR), RIA Novosti He described the Swiss Supreme Court as “corrupt”.

“It seems to me that this court is also quite corrupt. For me, anything negative about these courts and countries is to be expected. “Now the situation is such that you cannot get objectivity from anyone,” he said.

Sports lawyer Anna Atseliovich stated that Valieva’s side has exhausted the possibilities of changing the figure skater’s punishment. In an interview “Sports Express” He noted that even applying to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) would not yield any results.

“Actually, it is not possible for Camila’s side to do anything more. After the Swiss Federal Supreme Court reviews this case, no further practical steps can be taken.

Yes, someone appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, but this already falls into the realm of unrealistic assumptions,” Antseliovich said.

“Nobody expected anything to change”

Alexander Enbert, silver medalist of the 2018 Olympic Games in the team competition, said in a conversation with socialbites.ca that the decision of the Swiss court is awaited. According to him, no change could be expected.

“Probably no one expected anything to change. Because there is a general situation of not accepting Russian athletes, and none of the latest decisions regarding them leave optimism. Valieva’s case resulted in a series of negative decisions for our athletes. You expect more negativity than positivity; Of course, I want this to change and all problems for Russian athletes to be resolved in a positive way, so that we can see them in all possible tournaments,” said Enbert.

At the same time, he emphasized that Valieva does not live in the past and continues to train.

We skated with Kamila in the play “Ruslan and Lyudmila”. And I could tell he was very focused on recovery – he was training, he was jumping. To be honest, we didn’t even raise the issue of suspension, we just discussed how his workouts were going, how he worked out, which jumps he corrected. Enbert concluded: “I think Camila does not live in the past, she looks to the future.”