CNN
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Canada is “extremely disappointed” that the US figure skating team will receive a gold medal for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics after Russian figure skater Kamila Valeeva was handed a four-year ban in a long-running doping scandal. Awarded Bronze.
Valeeva, now 17, led the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to the top spot in the team event ahead of the US and Japan – before her doping test came back. Trimetazide is favorable for performance-enhancing substances.
The ban was imposed on December 25, 2021, when the sample was collected. Valeeva was only 15 years old then.
No medals are awarded pending a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport as a result of the doping controversy. Disqualification of “all competitive results” achieved after Valeeva's positive test.
A The report was published on its website On Tuesday, the International Skating Union (ISU) confirmed Valiyeva's results disqualifying her in both the singles – where the teenager finished fourth – and the team event.
The disqualification of his results coincided with a re-ranking of the medal standings in the team event, where the ROC fell to third, while the US and Japan moved up to first and second respectively. Canada ranks fourth, one point behind the ROC's recalculation results.
A Report On Tuesday, Skate Canada said it “strongly disagrees” with the ISU's decision to leave its team in fourth place and is “considering all options to appeal this decision.”
The statement added that the ISU did not apply Rule 353 in its latest decision, which states that “competitors who have completed the competition and are initially ranked lower than an ineligible competitor will advance in their placement accordingly.”
CNN has reached out to ISU for clarification on the methodology used to rerank the teams.
Valeeva was disqualified from the women's singles event of the 2022 European Figure Skating Championships, vacating her gold medal to compatriot Anna Sherpakova.
In a statement Monday night, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) CEO Sarah Hirschland confirmed that she “spoke with the IOC this evening and received the exciting news that the 2022 U.S. figure skating team event athletes have been awarded the gold medal for the team competition.”
“Let the celebrations begin,” it said in the statement. “Congratulations to Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Madison Sack, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Ginirim and Vincent Cho.”
The much-anticipated decision has been welcomed by anti-doping bodies around the world – including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which said it would award medals according to the ISU rankings.
No date or location for the medal ceremony was given, although the IOC confirmed that it would organize “a dignified Olympic medal ceremony” for the United States, Japan and fourth-placed Canada in the future.
CNN Sport has contacted the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Japanese Olympic Committee and the ROC for further comment.
Under which flag did Russian athletes compete at the Winter Olympics in Beijing? Prior doping ban.
Even with the recent news of Valeeva's ban, Alexander Kogan, director general of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, said he considers his athletes champions in the team event.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disagreed with the decision to disqualify Valeva.
“After returning from China from the Olympics, we honored these athletes as Olympic champions,” he told reporters in a conference call.
“For us, we firmly believe that they will always be Olympic champions. Whatever decisions are made in this matter, even unfair ones.”
Peskov said that there could be no amendments or reductions in payments from the state to Russian medalists from the Beijing Olympics.
In its Monday announcement, CAS said the decision to ban Valeeva for four years was “final and binding”, explaining that the parties could appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal “within 30 days for specified reasons”.
CNN's Jill Martin and Anna Chernova contributed reporting.
