Will Russia keep figure skating gold medals? Even if Kamila Valieva is guilty, they might
BEIJING — The International Olympic Committee has been operating under the apparent assumption that if Kamila Valieva is found guilty of doping, Russian skaters will forfeit the gold medals they won in the figure skating team event at the Beijing Olympics.
On Thursday, the Russian Olympic Committee challenged that assumption, and vowed to fight it in court, citing vague anti-doping rules that could muddle the case.
Valieva, 15, led Russia to gold on Feb. 7. The following day, officials notified her that she’d tested positive for a banned substance. The IOC swiftly postponed the medal ceremony, and later said it would not be held during the Beijing Games. IOC spokesman Mark Adams said that the results of Valieva’s competitions would come with “an asterisk,” and be considered “preliminary.”
Valieva’s doping violation, however, stemmed from a Dec. 25 sample submitted at the Russian Figure Skating Championships, not at these Olympics. And complicated regulations don’t specify whether an athlete’s positive test at one event should invalidate the results of a team competition at a later event.
The ROC, in a letter sent to the International Skating Union this week, argued that it shouldn’t. “The results of the team events are not subject to revision under any circumstances,” ROC president Stanislav Pozdnyakov said. He referenced anti-doping rules that, he believes, only nullify results of Olympic team events “if the alleged anti-doping rule violation is committed during the period of the Olympic Games.”
The relevant rules, established by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the IOC and the International Skating Union, suggest he’s partially correct — but appear to leave this controversial situation in a legal gray area.
A tangled mess of rules
The World Anti-Doping Code clearly states that a positive test at a given competition disqualifies an athlete from that competition. For Valieva, that would be Russian nationals — not the Olympics.
The code also states that all subsequent results, from the time of the violation through the resulting “ineligibility period,” shall be disqualified. This rule suggests that if Valieva is ultimately suspended for any length of time, she will not receive an Olympic medal.
The article it falls under, however, concerns “sanctions on individuals.” The following article, which concerns “consequences to teams,” defers to organizations like the IOC and ISU.
The IOC’s anti-doping rules, meanwhile, address violations committed by a team member during the Olympics, but not those committed at an earlier event.
The ISU’s anti-doping rules address a scenario where a team member tests positive at a different competition within the same event — for example, the Olympics — but not the scenario in which the positive test stems from a prior event.
This, perhaps, is because the scenario is unusual and unforeseeable. Anti-doping authorities typically flag pre-Olympic tests for urgent analysis, and labs report results before major competitions begin. In other words, cases are typically resolved before the start of the Olympic Games.
In Valieva’s case, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency failed to label her Dec. 25 sample urgent, according to WADA. COVID-19 backlogs at a Stockholm lab then delayed the reporting of results for six weeks — well beyond the recommended 20-day timeframe, and beyond the start of the Olympics.
Could Russia move from first to third?
There is, therefore, no precise precedent for this 2022 figure skating team event — if Valieva is ultimately suspended.
The nearest equivalent might be Olympic equestrian. In 2004 and 2008, respectively, German and Norwegian horses tested positive for banned substances. Their riders, who had medaled in team show jumping, were retroactively disqualified. Their teams weren’t, but their scores were removed from the team total, and standings were adjusted. Norway fell out of the medal places. Germany dropped from first to third, and all four athletes were stripped of their gold medals — but the three who weren’t disqualified were awarded bronze.
The lack of specificity in IOC and ISU rules creates a similar possibility for Russian figure skaters. The WADA code would seemingly invalidate Valieva’s results. Without her 20 points in the team event, though, Russia would still finish ahead of Canada in third place, meaning the rest of the team — Victoria Sinitsina, Nikita Katsalapov, Anastasia Mishina, Aleksandr Galliamov and Mark Kondratiuk — could still win bronze.
The ISU did not respond to questions seeking clarification. IOC rules direct many cases that fall in legal gray areas to the Court of Arbitration for Sport — which will also rule on the Valieva doping case sometime over the coming months.
Its decision on the merits will determine whether a legal dispute over medals is also necessary.
