Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old Russian figure skater, left a significant mark on the 24th edition of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing with her athletic achievements—but not only that.

The young figure skating prodigy was also confronted with alleged doping accusations, leading the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Skating Union (ISU), and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to bring the case before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

This appeal—whose timing raises questions—has sparked heated debates among stakeholders in the sports world.

The facts follow a rather typical pattern. During the Russian Championships held in Saint Petersburg in December 2021, where she won the gold medal in her first participation as a senior, Kamila Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine on December 25, 2021. This substance, commonly used to relieve angina, has been on WADA’s list of banned substances and methods since 2014 due to its potential to enhance blood circulation (classified under category S4: "hormonal and metabolic modulators").

On February 7, 2022, Kamila Valieva made history by landing the first-ever quadruple jump in Olympic competition, helping the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) secure the gold medal in the team event.

However, it was only the next day, February 8, 2022, that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) notified her of an abnormal test result from her December 25, 2021, doping control—44 days after the test was conducted. This delay contradicts WADA’s international standards, which require immediate notification of results to the athlete.

As a result, RUSADA provisionally suspended the skater, who had just won gold with the ROC team.

On February 9, 2022, Kamila Valieva immediately appealed this decision before RUSADA’s disciplinary committee and successfully had her provisional suspension lifted, allowing her to compete in the women’s singles event at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

However, on February 11, 2022, the IOC, ISU, and WADA appealed this decision before CAS, seeking to reinstate Kamila Valieva’s provisional suspension.

This case unfolds against the backdrop of CAS’s December 17, 2020, ruling, which banned Russia from international competitions for two years, including the Tokyo Summer Olympics and the Beijing Winter Olympics. The 2020 ruling directly targeted RUSADA for orchestrating and covering up institutionalized doping and manipulating digital data requested by WADA.

As a result, since then, Russian athletes have been competing under the neutral banner of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) unless they have been personally sanctioned for doping.

As we previously discussed in our article about the disqualification of French boxer Mourad Aliev at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, the Ad Hoc Division—a special CAS panel established at the Olympic Games—handles such disputes and delivers rulings within timeframes compatible with the competition’s organization.

It is well known that anti-doping regulations are numerous and highly stringent, as the consequences for athletes can be severe. These rules exist to ensure fairness among competitors and uphold the values that sport and the Olympic spirit are meant to embody.

The Legal Perspective

Legally, Kamila Valieva is considered a "Protected Person" under the World Anti-Doping Code. This status, introduced by WADA in early 2021, is designed to protect athletes under the age of 16.

The World Anti-Doping Code defines a "Protected Person" as an "Athlete or other natural person who, at the time of the anti-doping rule violation, (i) has not reached the age of sixteen (16), (ii) has not reached the age of eighteen (18) and is not included in a Registered Testing Pool and has never competed in an international event in an open category, or (iii) is otherwise legally incompetent under applicable national law for reasons unrelated to age."

The Code stipulates that Protected Persons will be treated differently from other athletes in certain circumstances, based on the reasoning that individuals below a certain age or level of competence "may not have the capacity to fully understand and appreciate" the Code’s prohibitions.

Under Article 10.3 of the World Anti-Doping Code, which outlines suspensions for anti-doping violations, Protected Persons face lighter sanctions, ranging from a reprimand to a maximum two-year suspension, compared to a four-year suspension for non-protected athletes.

In its February 14, 2022, ruling, the Ad Hoc Division of CAS determined that:

“[…] (b) RUSADA’s anti-doping rules and the WADA Code do not explicitly address provisional suspensions for Protected Persons, even though they provide specific provisions for different standards of proof and reduced sanctions for such individuals;
(c) The panel took into account fundamental principles of fairness, proportionality, irreparable harm, and the balance of interests between the applicants and the athlete, who had not tested positive during the Beijing Olympics and who remains subject to disciplinary proceedings following her December 2021 doping test; in particular, the panel found that preventing the athlete from participating in the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable harm in these circumstances;
(d) The CAS panel also emphasized that there were serious concerns about the late notification of the athlete’s December 2021 doping test results, which impeded her ability to present certain legal arguments in her defense, as this delay was not her fault and occurred in the middle of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.”

The CAS Ad Hoc Division first ruled that neither RUSADA’s anti-doping regulations nor the World Anti-Doping Code explicitly address provisional suspensions for Protected Persons like Kamila Valieva.

Furthermore, the panel highlighted serious "issues" regarding the delayed notification of the doping test results, which deprived the athlete of an opportunity to present legal arguments against the findings due to the excessive delay.

This notification delay raises legitimate concerns, as it took an unusually long time—44 days—for the results from RUSADA’s December 25, 2021, test to be processed by an accredited laboratory in Stockholm. The results were only made available on February 8, the same day Kamila Valieva competed in the Olympic team event.

As CAS Director General Matthieu Reeb noted, "It is not the athlete’s fault that the notification reached her in the middle of the Olympics."

Finally, to justify its decision, the CAS Ad Hoc Division emphasized the fundamental principles of fairness, proportionality, and "irreparable harm":

"The panel found that preventing the athlete from competing in the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable harm in these circumstances."

Should we conclude, as some suggest, that the CAS arbitrators were lenient toward the young skater? Certainly not—it appears that CAS issued a legally sound and well-reasoned ruling.

Indeed, a thorough examination of the case is necessary, particularly regarding the circumstances surrounding the December 25, 2021, doping test and the subsequent delayed notification of the results.

It is in this spirit that CAS justified its ruling, emphasizing that suspending Kamila Valieva would cause "irreparable" and irreversible harm. Thus, CAS favors the correction of a sporting result after the fact in cases of proven doping violations rather than imposing a prior sanction that would be disproportionate for a high-level athlete.

Kamila Valieva will therefore be allowed to compete in the individual event, with the short program scheduled for today and the free skate on February 17.

However, the legal battle is far from over, as another hearing will take place in the coming weeks, which could retroactively annul Kamila Valieva’s results since her positive doping test.

To be continued…