On February 14, Beijing time, there was a conclusion about whether Vallieva could continue to participate in the women's single skating competition of the next Beijing Winter Olympics.
The International Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the appeals of the International Olympic Committee, the International Skating Federation, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and Vallieva could continue to participate in the competitions that followed!
Vallieva's drug ban scandal dates back to December 25 last year, when Valieva competed in the All-Russian Championships, and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency sent Vallieva's test samples to a laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden, for testing according to regulations.
On February 7, the final of the figure skating team at the Beijing Winter Olympics ended, and Valieva performed very well, scoring 10 points for Russia in the women's singles, and the Russian Olympic team won the championship.
According to the procedure, the medal ceremony should be held on February 8, but the IOC announced that the ceremony was temporarily cancelled because of a legal problem.
After that, several media exposed the truth of the incident. It turned out that the sample that Valieva sent for testing on December 25 last year happened to have a test report on February 8, and the report showed that Vallieva's sample contained the illicit drug trimetazide, which is mainly used to treat heart disease, but has long been banned by anti-doping agencies.
Four years ago at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Russian bobsleigh skaters were banned for eight months after being found to be the illicit drug trimetazine.
Accordingly, the Russian anti-doping agency imposed a temporary ban on Vallieva. However, the incident took a major turn within 24 hours, with the Russian anti-doping agency revoking the ban, allowing Valieva to continue training and compete in the women's singles event later.
The decision of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency has aroused strong dissatisfaction from the International Olympic Committee, the International Skating Federation and the World Anti-Doping Agency. Since Vallieva's test samples were delivered by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, the right to ban her can only be handed over to the Russian side.
Accordingly, the International Olympic Committee, the International Skating Federation and the World Anti-Doping Agency all appealed to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport to reinstate Vallieva's ban.
The failure of the IOC's appeal is indeed rare. Although it was unable to prevent Valieva from competing, the IOC fought back within its mandate.
The IOC announced that it would not hold an award ceremony for the figure skating team event during the Beijing Winter Olympics (previously stated to be postponed), which also meant that the Russian Olympic team that won the competition could not win the gold medal.
Not only that, the International Olympic Committee also announced that if Vallieva finally ranks in the top three of the women's single skating, then the award ceremony for the women's single skating will also be cancelled!
In fact, as long as Vallieva plays normally, even if there is a slight mistake, it will most likely win the championship of the women's single skate, and the second time at the Beijing Winter Olympics, she will laugh to the end. To be sure, 15-year-old Vallieva is destined not to win any medals during the Beijing Winter Olympics.