Canada Stays 4th In 2022 Olympic Team Figure Skating Despite Doping DQ Of Russia's Valieva | CBC Sports

Despite the disqualification of Kamila Valieva in a doping case, her Russia figure skating team will still get bronze medals from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the sport’s governing body said on Tuesday.

The International Skating Union published an amended points table from the competition in Beijing that stripped Valieva’s maximum 10 points from each of her two events but did not add a point to the other teams below her.

The United States is the new Olympic champion and Japan gets upgraded to silver from bronze but the demoted Russians get bronze by a single point ahead of fourth-placed Canada, which was represented by Roman Sadovsky, Madeline Schizas, Kristen Moore-Towers, Michael Marinaro, Vanessa James, Eric Radford, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.

Canada still gets eight points out of 10 from the women’s short program and free skate sections, where Japan finished second each time to Valieva.

Canada’s overall points total remained 53 and the Russians’ tally dropped from 74 to 54 — enough for the bronze medals which Valieva herself will not get.

Kirsten Moore-Towers and Canada’s Michael Marinaro, seen competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics, are among the Canadian team that placed fourth in the figure skating team event at the Games in Beijing. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images)”The ISU is in close contact with the International Olympic Committee and the relevant ISU member federations in regard to the implementation of this decision,” the governing body said.

In a statement released by Skate Canada, the organization “strongly disagrees with the ISU’s position on this matter and will consider all options to appeal this decision.”

“The Court for Arbitration for Sports [CAS] ruled that in addition to a four-year ban from competition, the ban includes ‘the disqualification [of] all competitive results,’ achieved by Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva since the positive test. The ISU in its recent decision is not applying Rule 353, which states that ‘competitors having finished the competition and who initially placed lower than the disqualified competitor will move up accordingly in their placement.”

A Canadian appeal to the court in Lausanne, Switzerland, could extend the case for about another year.

Here’s the decision: A four-year ban for Valieva from Dec 2021 to Dec 2025. Her Olympic results are disqualified, CAS says. A huge win for clean sport and massive loss for the Russian doping system. pic.twitter.com/7ArFoisqNv

—@cbrennansportsThe Canadian Olympic Committee also issued a statement Tuesday, noting it was “disappointed” Canada was not awarded bronze.

“We are in discussion with Skate Canada as it explores its options for appeal,” the COC wrote. “We recognize how difficult this process is for all the athletes and give our support to the Canadian skaters who made us so proud.

“This is a reminder of how harmful doping is and how crucial it is that we have a fair and safe sport system at home and around the world.”

Meanwhile, the Russian Olympic Committee said it would appeal the Valieva decision.

Separately, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Valieva and her five teammates from two years ago were still considered winners.

“We are convinced that they will always remain Olympic champions to us, whatever decisions may be taken in that regard, even unfair ones,” Peskov said from Moscow.

Valieva banned 4 yearsA CAS judging panel on Monday disqualified Valieva from all of her events since December 2021 and banned her for four years in a doping case that took almost two years to resolve.

“This decision demonstrates the importance of rigorous anti-doping measures in sport, and we recognize that this is another important case in the fight for clean sport and upholding the Olympic values,” the COC said Monday.

“We once again congratulate the affected Team Canada athletes for their incredible performances two years ago, and their enduring strength of character during this long process,” the COC added.

Skate Canada also applauded the decision on Monday.

The International Olympic Committee decided not to present any medals for the event in Beijing, where the 15-year-old Valieva was the star performer hours before her positive test for a banned heart medicine was revealed.

CAS said it upheld appeals led by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which asked the court to disqualify Valieva from the Olympics and ban her. A Russian sports tribunal had cleared her of any blame.

The CAS judges banned her for four years, through December 2025, just weeks before the next Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

The new Olympic champions are Americans Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou.

“We now anticipate the day when we can wholeheartedly celebrate these athletes, along with their peers from around the world,” the U.S. Olympic body’s CEO, Sarah Hirshland, said in a statement on Monday.

Valieva’s legal team said it is reviewing the CAS decision before deciding whether to appeal to the Swiss supreme court, lawyer Andrea Pinna said in a statement. Pinna, who is based in Paris, led the skater’s defence at the appeal hearings in September and November.

Appeals to the Swiss supreme court can be made on narrow procedural grounds, not the merits of the case.

Valieva’s lawyers had argued she was contaminated by traces of the trimetazidine medication they said her grandfather used.

“Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it,” the court said in a statement, “the CAS panel concluded that Ms. Valieva was not able to establish, on the balance of probabilities and on the basis of the evidence before the Panel, that she had not committed the [doping violation] intentionally.”

The judges decided that, according to Russian anti-doping rules, Valieva could not benefit from having been a minor at the time of the positive test.

There was “no basis under the rules to treat them any differently from an adult athlete,” said the court, which did not publish its detailed verdict pending a review of confidentiality issues.

The case provoked legal chaos at the Olympics because Valieva’s sample, taken six weeks earlier at the Russian national championships, was not notified by a laboratory in Sweden until hours after she competed in the team event on Feb. 7, 2022.

Intense scrutiny at 2022 GamesValieva continued to skate at the Olympics after rulings by a Russian tribunal and a separate CAS panel did not hold her responsible as a minor.

The intense scrutiny on Valieva led to an error-filled skate in the individual event, where she had been favoured for gold but dropped to fourth place.

WADA asked CAS to impose a four-year ban and to disqualify Valieva from the Olympics. The International Skating Union requested a two-year ban and disqualification.

When an athlete 16 or younger tests positive for a banned substance, international rules require an investigation of their entourage. Both the Russian anti-doping body and WADA were expected to look into the case but neither has published any findings and there is no indication anyone else is facing anti-doping charges in the case.

Valieva, who turns 18 in April, has not competed internationally since the Beijing Olympics.

Four days after the closing ceremony of the 2022 Olympics, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and five days after that, the International Skating Union banned Russian skaters from its events. That ban is still in place.

Since the Olympics, Valieva has skated on an expanded Russian national competition circuit and in various TV events and ice shows. 

Canada collected 26 medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, the fourth-highest total of any country.