Russia fails to regain 2022 Olympic gold lost in doping scandal
Russia's bid to regain the gold medal for its 2022 Olympic figure skating team has been rejected on final appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled on July 25.
The Russian skating team originally won gold at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, but were stripped of the medal in January 2024 after 15-year-old skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified for doping. Her points were subsequently subtracted from the Russian team's results.
The CAS dismissed Russia's appeal on July 25, saying the "results of Ms Valieva in the Olympic Figure Skating Team Event were correctly disqualified."
Valieva is currently serving a four-year ban after testing positive for trimetazidine, a heart medicine that can boost stamina, at the Russian national championships weeks before the Beijing Games. The ban imposed by the CAS will end in 2025, which means Valieva will be able to compete at the next Winter Olympics in 2026.
Following the deduction of Valieva's points, the Russian team will instead receive the bronze medal. The gold medal will be awarded to the United States.
The U.S. figure skating team will receive its medal at a special ceremony on Aug. 9 during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The Games will take place between July 26 and Aug. 11.
Russian and Belarusian athletes will participate in the Olympics as neutral individual athletes, not under their country's flags. As of late July, 15 Russian and 16 Belarusian citizens had confirmed their participation in the Olympics.
Elsa Court
