BEIJING (AP) 鈥� The judges who let Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva continue to compete at the Beijing Olympics blamed anti-doping officials in a legal document published Friday for a 鈥渇ailure to function effectively.鈥�
The Court of Arbitration for Sport in the case that has dominated Olympic headlines for more than a week in a 41-page document, citing the 鈥渦ntenable delay鈥� at the testing laboratory in Sweden as a reason for letting the 15-year-old Valieva skate in the women's competition.
Valieva鈥檚 positive test for a heart medication was only revealed during the Olympics despite her urine sample arriving at the Stockholm lab on Dec. 29. The lab鈥檚 staffing was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The full verdict was published early Friday, hours after the 15-year-old Valieva鈥檚 mistake-filled free skate dropped her from the lead to finish fourth in the women鈥檚 individual event at the Beijing Games.
Valieva was cleared to skate by an urgent CAS ruling Monday after an appeal hearing that started Sunday night and ended at around 2 a.m. Monday. The World Anti-Doping Agency and International Olympic Committee appealed against the decision by the Russian anti-doping agency to lift Valieva鈥檚 initial suspension, which had been triggered by the positive test.
鈥淧ut simply, athletes should not be subject to the risk of serious harm occasioned by anti-doping authorities鈥� failure to function effectively at a high level of performance and in a manner designed to protect the integrity of the operation of the Games,鈥� the verdict stated.
Valieva鈥檚 lawyers suggested she tested positive 鈥渁s a result of domestic interaction with her grandfather who uses 鈥楾rimetazidine鈥� after heart replacement surgery.鈥�
The CAS document shows they suggested it could have happened 鈥渢hrough dishes used by the Athlete and the Athlete鈥檚 grandfather (through drinking liquid from the same glass, as well).鈥�
Valieva's status as minor, or 鈥減rotected person,鈥� under the world anti-doping code gave her an advantage. The standard of proof for a protected person is lower than for an adult making the same claim about testing positive because of a contaminated product.
Valieva tested negative in doping controls taken on Oct. 30, Jan. 13 at the European Championships in Estonia, and Feb. 7 in Beijing. That day, her skating helped Russia win the team event. The positive test was revealed a day later.
WADA countered the judges' arguments Friday, insisting they had effectively overturned one aspect of the World Anti-Doping Code by saying an interim ban was optional rather than mandatory for a protected minor who tested positive for a banned substance.
鈥淭his is not what the Code says, not what the Code drafters intended and was never proposed by any of WADA鈥檚 stakeholders during the three rounds of Code consultation,鈥� the Montreal-based .
WADA again said Russian anti-doping officials should share blame for the delayed test result from Stockholm because they 鈥渄id not flag the high-priority nature of the sample despite being informed by the laboratory of delays being caused by a COVID-19 outbreak among its staff."
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Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press
