Kamila Valieva, 15-year-old Russian figure skater, rocked the Beijing Winter Olympics with a gold medal victory and subsequent scandal for a positive doping test of trimetazidine– a performance-enhancing heart medication. On January 29th, 2024 the long deliberation of what her punishment would be came to an end, with the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that Miss. Valieva be banned from competition for 4 years.
Despite the ruling coming out in 2024, the ban will have a commencement date of December 25th, 2021– so that in 2025, when the ban lifts, Valieva will be permitted to compete in the 2026 Winter Games. A part of her ruling orders her to give up any, “titles, awards, medals, profits, prizes and appearance money” earned after the date she tested positive for trimetazidine.
Valieva’s initial claim when the results came out was that she accidentally took her grandfather’s heart medication. This claim ended up not having much impact on her ruling, as the Russian anti-doping agency cleared her from liability because of her underage status during the games– citing that Valieva falls under the category of protected persons as a minor.
Athletes and affiliates from the competition feel the injustice began when Valieva was allowed to compete at the games. The chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygrat, said that Russia should have rushed her urine sample analysis. If that had been done sooner, Valieva could have been removed from the competition.
Because of the delayed ruling on Valieva, a medal ceremony was not held at the Beijing Games. Now, the United States will be re-awarded the Gold Medal that was originally given to Valieva, Japan will step up to silver, and Canada, originally without a pedestal, will receive the bronze.
Aside from her headline-breaching fall from stardom, Valieva had an impressive stint of success on her way up. Competition after competition, Valieva racked gold medals and broke world records– all thanks to her mastery of the incredibly difficult quadruple axel jump. She was the skater favored to win the singles gold medal, but after a disastrous fall during her free skate, Valieva fell to fourth.
Immediately after her performance, her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, was broadcasted scolding Valieva:
“Why did you let it go? Why did you stop fighting? Explain it to me, why?” beckoned Eteri.
She stopped fighting midway through her performance, but her blunder didn’t disqualify Russia from any future games. As of now, Valieva will be stripped of her gold, but watchers can expect to see her again at the 2026 Winter Games.
