Earlier this week, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified from all competition events beginning December 25, 2021.  She will not be eligible to compete again until December 2025 – just seven weeks before the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy.

Despite her disqualification, the Russian team has still earned enough points to score third in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China.  Originally scoring enough points for the silver medal, Valieva’s positive drug test cast a shadow on the skating events and the International Olympic Committee withheld presentation of the medals until after the court ruling was announced.

The United States will now earn the gold medal with Japan earning the silver and Russia the bronze by one point; leaving Canada out of medal consideration in fourth.

Valieva’s disqualification also resulted in her being stripped of her 2022 European title.

In determining the rankings, the International Skating Union removed Valieva’s 10 points from her two events but did not add points to the skaters who finished behind her.

The ruling has sparked more legal issues with the Canadians protesting the lack of points added after Valieva’s disqualification.

Fifteen at the time of her drug testing and the Olympic Games, Valieva is a minor and was deemed not responsible for her actions.  Tested in December, 2021; the results were not revealed until February, 2022 – during the Olympic Games.

She tested positive for trimetazidine – an angina drug used by her grandfather.  The team claimed that there was a mix-up between her grandfather’s medication and the two oxygen enhancers Valieva took – which are not banned substances.

Valieva and her fellow Russian athletes were already competing under the name Russian Olympic Committee and competed under a neutral flag due to previous positive drug tests that resulted in a ban of Russia in Olympic competition.