Olympic symbol (also known as Olympic Rings) seen on the Montreal olympic Committee building lit during a dark night. Montreal became an olympic city with the 1976 Summer Olympic Games

Russians and Canadians Contest the 2022 Olympic Team Podium

by SportsCasting Editors

Published on February 26, 2024 11:39 am

2 min read

Following the suspension of Russian skater Kamila Valieva for doping, the podium in the team event at the Beijing Games has been modified, with Russia demoted to third place ahead of Canada, which remains in fourth, a decision contested by both countries.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Monday that the Russian and Canadian skaters are contesting the podium in the mixed team event at the 2022 Olympic Games, which was established after Russian skater Kamila Valieva was suspended for doping. At the end of January, after a two-year imbroglio, the International Skating Federation (ISU) withdrew Valieva’s points from the Russian team, initially first in the event, demoting it to third place behind the gold medal-winning Americans and the silver medal-winning Japanese.

The decision came just after the Russian had been retroactively suspended for four years from December 25, 2021. The Canadians had hoped to regain the bronze medal.

At the same time, the Russian Olympic Committee, the Russian Skating Federation and six Russian skaters – including Kamila Valieva – also challenged the ISU’s decision, this time asking to be reinstated to the lead, and thus to be awarded the gold medal.

Valieva, then aged 15, had tested positive for trimetazidine, a substance banned since 2014 on the grounds that it improves blood circulation, by the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) on the occasion of the Russian Championships she won at the end of 2021 in St Petersburg. However, as Rusada had been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), her sample had been analyzed by the WADA-accredited laboratory in Stockholm. However, disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, this laboratory released the result in the middle of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, after the team skating event.

“Given the state of progress of the proceedings, no indication can be given as to the date of a possible hearing,” CAS said in a statement. For its part, the International Olympic Committee has yet to indicate when the medal ceremony will be held – and in what venue – while the Americans have called for a podium to be organized in Paris for the 2024 Olympics this summer.

This post is originally from L’Équipe