Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 14( 2016) -- All parties have responded to the incident in which Russian figure skaters have been allowed to continue to participate
Xinhua News Agency reporters Ji Ye, Le Wenwan and Zhang Han
The International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on the 14th that it would allow the Russian Olympic Committee team figure skater Vallieva to continue to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. The news was a rock to the eye, after which the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the International Skating Federation (ISU) responded separately.
On February 7, the Russian Olympic Committee's Vallieva competed in the women's single free skating competition in the figure skating team competition of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lan Hongguang
Four reasons to allow continued participation
Vallieva, 15, was tested for doping on December 25 last year, but the results were not reported positive until February 8 this year, after she helped the Russian Olympic Committee team win the gold medal in the figure skating team at the Beijing Winter Olympics, when she was tested positive by the laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden.
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) first imposed a temporary ban on Vallieva, and then after Valieva appealed, the disciplinary committee of the agency decided to revoke the temporary ban and allow her to continue to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics. However, the IOC, WADA, and ISU all appealed to CAS challenging RUSADA's decision.
As the Women's Figure Skating Competition of the Winter Olympics is about to start on the 15th, CAS quickly held a hearing and made a ruling on the 14th - rejecting the appeal and allowing Vallieva to continue to compete.
The CAS's ruling was based on four main reasons: first, that the 15-year-old minor belonged to the "protected group" of the World Anti-Doping Regulations (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), that the Russian anti-doping regulations and regulations did not explicitly provide for a temporary ban on the "protected population"; and third, that the athlete did not test positive for doping during the Beijing Winter Olympics and that preventing the athlete from continuing to participate in the competition under the current circumstances would cause irreparable harm to him Fourth, there was a serious problem of untimely notification of the doping test results in December 2021, and it was not the athletes' fault to receive a late positive drug test notification during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
WADA: Started investigating Vallieva's support staff
In response to CAS's ruling, WADA expressed disappointment, stressing that the Regulations stipulate that temporary bans against "protected groups" cannot be lifted by exception, and cas's ruling is not based on the Regulations.
For athlete test samples, WADA stressed that anti-doping agencies should actively liaise with relevant laboratories to ensure that athletes, especially athletes with the ability to achieve good results, obtain test results before going out to compete. However, according to WADA, Valieva's sample was not highlighted, which made it unclear to the laboratory to do urgent treatment.
WADA also said that under the Regulations, if minors are involved, their support staff will be investigated. At present, RUSADA has begun to investigate, and WADA will also send an independent department to investigate.
On February 6, The Russian Olympic Committee's Vallieva competed in the women's single skating short program of the figure skating team competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo by Ju Huanzong, Xinhua News Agency
IOC: The award ceremony for the figure skating team competition is cancelled
The IOC responded that the CAS's ruling was not about whether Vallieva violated the Regulations, but only whether she was temporarily banned from participating in the Winter Olympics after she tested positive at the end of last year.
The IOC Executive Committee, in consultation with the relevant national (regional) Olympic Committees, decided that in order to ensure fairness to all athletes and national Olympic Committees, there will be no figure skating team competition award ceremony during the Winter Olympic Games. Because if held, the award ceremony will have an athlete who tests positive for doping (obviously inappropriate).
At present, Valieva is allowed to participate in the figure skating women's singles event that began on the 15th. The IOC said that if Vallieva wins the top three in women's singles, there will be no longer a women's singles award ceremony during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The IOC will hold an award ceremony for the winners of the Winter Olympics after the Valieva incident is finally resolved.
The IOC asked the International Skating Federation that if Vallieva ranked in the top 24 in the women's singles short program competition on the 15th, it needed to allow the top 25 contestants in the short program to participate in the free skating on the 17th.
The ISU also issued a statement expressing respect for CAS's ruling, while taking time to evaluate before issuing further comments.