09/28/23 12:25:00
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09/28 12:24 CDT Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's Olympic doping case will
resume for two more days in November
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's Olympic doping case will resume for two
more days in November
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer
GENEVA (AP) --- The Olympic doping case involving teenage Russian figure skater
Kamila Valieva will resume for two more days in November, the Court of
Arbitration for Sport said Thursday.
The highest court in sports said its panel of three judges adjourned the appeal
after the third day of a closed-door hearing and will return on Nov. 9-10.
"(The judges) ordered the production of further documentation and, in order to
allow the parties to consider and address such documentation, allowed two
further days for the hearing," CAS said in a statement.
Now 17 years old, Valieva was only 15 when her positive doping test for a
banned heart medication was revealed at the Beijing Olympics in February 2022.
With the unforeseen delay, a verdict is not expected until next year.
The United States finished second behind the Russians in the team event in
Beijing and never got their medals. The nine American skaters could be upgraded
to become Olympic champions if Valieva is held responsible for her positive
test.
Valieva had traces of trimetazidine in a sample taken at the Russian
championships in St. Petersburg where she won in December 2021. The test
result, however, was delayed at the laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden, and not
known until she started competing in Beijing.
She was allowed by a previous CAS panel to compete in the individual women's
event at the Olympics and finished fourth with a mistake-filled free program
under intense scrutiny and pressure.
Valieva's defense has been that her positive test was caused by accidental
contamination --- maybe from a glass or plate --- by tablets her grandfather
claimed he took.
At the first CAS hearing in Beijing, lawyers for the World Anti-Doping Agency
argued there was no document proving her grandfather had been prescribed
trimetazidine medication.
A Russian anti-doping tribunal's ruling announced in January said Valieva, as
an underage minor, was not at fault and should not be disqualified from the
Olympics.
The appeal hearing at CAS this week was brought by WADA and the International
Skating Union challenging that Russian ruling.
WADA has asked the judges to ban Valieva for four years until December 2025 and
disqualify her from the Olympics.
"Due to the confidential nature of the proceedings, WADA is not permitted to
comment further on the adjournment," the Montreal-based agency said in a
statement Thursday. "However, as it has done at all stages, it will continue to
push for a resolution of these proceedings as quickly as possible."
The ISU wants a ban of at least two years and disqualification. The Russian
anti-doping agency also joined the appeal and suggested a reprimand would do.
Valieva's legal team previously submitted to the court the argument that CAS
has no jurisdiction in the case, and alternatively that she was not at fault so
a reprimand is enough.
Valieva has not skated internationally since Beijing because of an ISU ban on
Russians following the country's invasion of Ukraine.
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