(Beijing) The hearings to allow the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to decide whether the Russian skater Kamila Valieva, tested positive for a prohibited substance, will be able to participate in the women’s event of the Olympic Games on Tuesday, ended Monday at 2 a.m. (6 p.m. GMT Sunday), the CAS announced in a press release.
Posted at 4:43 p.m.
After deliberations, a decision is expected to be announced around 2 p.m. local time (6 a.m. GMT Monday), according to the same source.
A few hours before the start of this crucial hearing, Valieva, only 15, whose every gesture is now watched, and who until then had silently crossed the mixed zone where journalists were waiting for her after each training, had greeted the press a resounding collective “hello” with members of the Russian management. On Friday, the young prodigy hid her face behind her sweater when she saw the press waiting for her.
On the ice of the Olympic ice rink, the European champion, dressed in a dark green top and black bottoms, appeared calm and focused, to skate her short program in its entirety, with the exception of a jump.
At midday again, she put her skates back on, this time on the practice rink.
The calm before the storm ? This Sunday is a decisive day in the young career of the Russian teenager, big favorite of the individual women’s event in Beijing.
Videoconference
The ad hoc division of the CAS had begun to hear at 8:34 p.m. local time by videoconference the different parties to the Valieva case, first of all the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) which decided to lift its provisional suspension following the appeal filed by the skater earlier in the week.
The CAS told AFP that Valieva was ultimately one of the parties to this procedure and that as such she was free to participate in the hearing.
Once the decision has been announced, the young girl will then have just over 24 hours to prepare the short program scheduled for Tuesday evening in Beijing, if the CAS rejects the appeal of the sports authorities, International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the lead, and authorizes him to continue his Olympics.
Otherwise, if the CAS were to agree with the IOC, Valieva would no longer have the right to skate on Olympic ice.
“We want this matter to be resolved as soon as possible. […]but, as in any justice system, there is a procedure to be followed, ”simply recalled IOC spokesperson Mark Adams during the Olympic body’s daily press briefing in Beijing.
“Human Dimension”
“You have to remember that there is a human dimension in [cette affaire] with a 15-year-old person, ”said Christophe Dubi, the executive director of the Olympic Games.
Whatever the decision of the CAS, Valieva will remain in the spotlight, while the Olympic movement could experience a new serious crisis.
The affair began earlier this week when the IOC announced that the medal ceremony for the team event, won on Monday by Russia under a neutral flag with the teenager as the trump card, was postponed for reasons “ legal”.
The Russian press quickly mentioned Valieva’s positive doping control, but it took a press release on Friday from the ITA, the body responsible for the Games’ anti-doping program, for confirmation.
The skater was checked on December 25 at the Russian Championships in Saint Petersburg by the Russian anti-doping agency, which only received the positive result for trimetazidine, used to treat angina pectoris, on Tuesday.
Rusada immediately temporarily suspended the skater, who appealed the next day and obtained the same day the lifting of her suspension for still mysterious reasons, which allows her to continue to participate in the Games, for the moment.