CAS has concluded its hearing on Valieva

CAS has concluded its hearing on Valieva: the decision is expected on Monday. 

BEIJING: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has completed its hearing regarding Russian figure skating star Kamila Valieva following her testing negative for a banned narcotic, and a final verdict on the teenager’s fate will be announced in the coming days following discussions.

The 15-year-old phenom became the first woman in history to make the quadruple leap during the Olympics in the process of winning silver in her team Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in the team event, came back positive for a heart medication on December 25. Still, it took over six months to announce the test results.

Her fate is at stake in her participation in the Beijing Games, and the team’s gold medals won by the ROC are now in the balance amid an international protest over Moscow’s doping record.

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Valieva is scheduled to participate again on Tuesday in the women’s single event, which will force CAS to decide on her participation before next week’s hearing, lasting more than six hours before closing at 2:10 am local time on Monday.

“The hearing concluded, and it was a long hearing. The panel will now discuss the matter until tomorrow morning, after the morning,” CAS Secretary General Matthieu Reeb told reporters.

“We are hoping to announce a decision tomorrow, about one, two, or three p.m. in the afternoon. There will be an announcement made via a report on the website or a public statement the day after tomorrow.

“We must organize this, and we have a lot to do… I will not be able to make any comments during the hearing. However, I’m hoping to conclude… within a couple of hours.”

If asked whether Valieva provided the evidence, Reeb said he could not answer the question.

CAS stated that the hearing, which was conducted via videoconference and attended by Valieva and officials from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and WADA, the International Skating Union (ISU), and The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and the ROC.

An automatic suspension of suspensions that were imposed following any positive test was in effect lifted from RUSADA on Wednesday. 

However, WADA, IOC, and WADA made requests to CAS to restore the suspension.

Initially, it was believed that it would get handled by CAS’s doping committee of six. Then, however, the court announced that its legal disputes unit would take the case.

WADA also announced on Sunday that they would solicit their Independent Intelligence and Investigations Department to look into the conduct of the coaches, doctors, and other people who are associated with the athlete.