LAUSANNE, Feb 14, 2022 - The Court of Arbitration for Sport Ad hoc Division has declined imposing a provisional suspension on the 15-year-old Russian figure skater, Kamila Valieva. Monday's ruling clears her to compete in the next Olympic event, the Women’s Single Skating competition on Tuesday, 15 February 2022 and, if qualified, on 17 February 2022. But the teenager's doping charge announced by the International Testing Agency (ITA) during Beijing Games remains unresolved.

CASE UNDECIDED The CAS has clearly expressed that the decision taken by the Ad-hoc Division today is not a decision on whether Ms Valieva violated the anti-doping rules. It was limited to the sole question of whether Ms Valieva could be provisionally suspended from the Olympic competition following a positive A-sample taken on 25 December 2021.

POSITIVE FOR DOPING AT NATIONALS ITA and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) confirmed that Kamila tested positive for a banned substance called 'Trimetazidine' during the Russian National figure skating Championships. However, the Russian Olympic Committee stated she tested negative "before and after" the test on December 25, and during her participation in Beijing 2022.

BEIJING 2022 TEAM GOLD Kamila Valieva led Russian Olympic Committee’s figure skating team to clinch an Olympic gold after landing two quad jumps last Monday while Team USA took the silver and Japan the bronze. The three medal-winning teams were honoured on the ice immediately after the competition last Monday afternoon, but the medal ceremony which was set for Tuesday night in Beijing’s Olympic medals plaza was delayed due to ongoing legal issues, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Wednesday.

NO MEDAL CEREMONY The IOC Executive Board has taken note of the decision by CAS to allow figure skater Kamila Valieva to continue to compete in Beijing 2022, however, no medal ceremony will be held if she makes the podium. The ceremony for the team event is also pending: "In the interest of fairness to all athletes and the NOCs concerned, it would not be appropriate to hold the medal ceremony for the figure skating team event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 as it would include an athlete who on the one hand has a positive A-sample, but whose violation of the anti-doping rules has not yet been established on the other hand."

DECISION MAKERS Anti-doping violations in figure skating fall under the jurisdiction of the International Skating Union ISU's disciplinary commission, and can also be quickly appealed to the Swiss-based CAS which has set up two temporary offices in Beijing to hear urgent matters during the Winter Games.

PROTECTED ATHLETES RULE Because Valieva is not yet 16, she is considered a "protected person" under WADA's anti-doping code, which means she would be subject to lighter penalties and possibly exempt from public disclosure regulations. The code stipulates that anti-doping violations involving protected persons are optional, and "shall be proportionate to the facts and circumstances of the case."

Read below the CAS statement released this morning:

To review CAS decision to decline the provisional suspension CLICK HERE
To review IOC decision on not holding medal ceremony CLICK HERE