It has been nearly two years since the ice skating scandal that rocked the Winter Olympic games in Beijing, China.

On January 29, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has been banned for the next four years for her part in the doping scandal that has prevented Olympic figure skaters from receiving their medals.

In their ruling the CAS stated, “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.”

As a result of the ban, Valieva and the Russian female gymnastic team has been stripped of their gold medal that was earned in the team competition.  With the Russians loss of the gold medal, it will now go to the second place team – the United States.  Japan will receive the silver and Canada the bronze.

The ban is retro-active back to December 25, 2021.  As a result, any and all awards earned since that time have been voided; including any team events.

Only 15 at the time of the scandal, the CAS and the Russian Olympic Committee has ruled that Valieva is not responsible for her actions.

Unsurprising, the Kremlin has stated that the actions of the CAS are political.

The World Anti-Doping Agency called the ruling “a victory for fair sport”.

The Russian Olympic Committee issued a statement saying, “in effect war has been declared on Russian sport and, as we can see, no holds are barred.”  Adding, “had long since ceased” to be worthy of objectivity and impartiality.”

During the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Russian athletes were already operating under sanctions for previous doping issues.  The athletes were only allowed to compete under a neutral flag and the Russian National Anthem was not played if an athlete won the gold medal.

Claiming that her “medications” had been confused with those of her grandfather’s, Valieva’s drug test came back positive for trimetazidine – a banned substance – used for treating angina.  The test was given during the Russian national championships in December of 2021 but due to a supposed back up was not examined until two months later.

The sport of figure skating has grown increasingly complicated as skaters continue to challenge themselves and seek to “one up” the competition.  At one time a triple jump was considered impossible; but now they are the norm for any routine and skaters are attempting to land a quadruple.  While there have been a few men succeeding the attempts, Valieva was the first female to do so during the team competition. 

She had been the favourite to win the gold medal in singles competition but ended up in fourth place after falling multiple times during the routine.

The suspension will end shortly before the 2026 Olympic games in Milano-Cortina; at which time Valieva will be 19 – somewhat old for a figure skater in Russian where team coach Eteri Tutberidze prefers very young skaters.  Nor has she competed internationally since the Beijing Olympics.  However, she has participated in Russian skating events, television, and ice shows.

Lawyers for Valieva said that they will be reviewing the case to determine whether or not they can appeal the case to the Swiss Supreme Court.  An appeal to the Swiss Supreme Court can only be made via narrow procedural grounds and not on the case itself.

Russian forces invaded the Ukraine just four days after the skating incident; as a result, the International Skating Union has banned Russian skaters from any competition.  With the continuing war, that ban is still in place.