Winter Olympics: Kamila Valieva allowed to compete at Beijing after Cas hearing
Kamila Valieva is allowed to compete at the Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upholds a decision to lift…
Hosts: Beijing, China Dates: 4-20 February |
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Kamila Valieva can compete again at the Winter Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) decided that no provisional suspension should be imposed on the 15-year-old after she failed a drugs test.
Cas said preventing the Russian figure skater from competing would have caused her “irreparable harm”.
“The athlete should benefit from the following exceptional circumstances, she is under 16 and a protected person under the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) code,” said Cas’ Matthieu Reeb.
Valieva, who returned a positive test on 25 December last year, had been provisionally suspended on 8 February but challenged the decision and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) lifted the ban the next day.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and others launched an appeal that Cas has now turned down.
She is now free to compete on Tuesday in the women’s individual figure skating competition, where she is favourite for gold.
More to follow.