Kamila Valieva from Russia 4 years doping ban “It brought justice to the clean sports movement,” says American figure skater Evan Bates.
Valieva, then 15, failed a doping test and was not awarded a medal in the team competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Her suspension was confirmed on Monday, invalidating the result and demoting Russia from gold to bronze.
“This is a milestone in the tradition of clean sports,” said Bates, who was promoted to gold as part of the U.S. team.
Mr Bates, 34, added: “This is an unprecedented case where 21 clean athletes left the Olympics without winning their cleanly won medals. This brings some justice to the clean sport movement and… “Clean athletes around the world will feel some joy and joy.” It's reassuring to know that clean sport is important. ”
Monday's Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) ruling also erased Valieva's test failures and results from December 25, 2021, the start date of her retroactive suspension.
On Tuesday, the sport's governing body, the International Skating Union (ISU), canceled Valieva's score and demoted the Russian team to bronze medal status.
The United States finished with a silver medal, but will now be promoted to a gold medal and Japan to a silver medal.
Canada was expected to win the bronze medal after finishing fourth two years ago.
However, when Valieva's goal was canceled, the team ended up with a one-point difference from the Russian team. Skate Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee said they were “deeply disappointed” and “will consider all options to appeal this decision.”
This is the first team Olympic gold medal in U.S. figure skating history.
Bates' teammate Madison Chock said the “dream scenario” would be to win gold at this summer's Paris Olympics.
“We want to have a true Olympic medal ceremony. A medal ceremony at the Paris Games this summer would be a dream scenario,” she said.
The International Olympic Committee said it would contact the Olympic committees of the countries concerned “to organize a dignified Olympic medal ceremony.”
News of Valieva's failed test first broke after she helped Russia win the team gold medal.
An investigation by Russia's Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) later found that the boy had “no fault or negligence” in failing the test. Her team always maintained “contaminated knives” and this led to her accidentally ingesting her grandfather's heart medication, trimetazidine, which is banned for athletes.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the ISU appealed this finding, and Cas upheld the appeal.
The Russian Olympic Committee announced that it would appeal the ISU's decision.