Kamila Valieva: Banned Russian skater blames positive drugs test on strawberry dessert prepared by her grandfather
"The CAS [Court of Arbitration for Sport] award shows that, in her submissions, the athlete asserted that the prohibited substance entered her body through the consumption of a strawberry dessert prepared by her grandfather on the chopping board where he used to crush his medication"
Wednesday 7 February 2024 17:19, UK
Banned Russian skater Kamila Valieva has blamed testing positive for Trimarizidine when she was 15 on a strawberry dessert prepared by her grandfather on a chopping board he used to crush his pills.
News Valieva had tested positive for the banned substance during the Russian national championships in December 2021 emerged during the following year's Winter Games in Beijing.
The subsequent legal case reached the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled last week Valieva had been unable to establish the anti-doping rule violation had not been committed intentionally. She was handed a four-year ban, backdated to the time of the failed test, meaning it will run until Christmas Day 2025.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has published: "The CAS award shows that, in her submissions, the athlete asserted that the prohibited substance entered her body through the consumption of contaminated food shortly before the Russian Championships, i.e. through the consumption of a strawberry dessert prepared by her grandfather on the chopping board where he used to crush his medication (pills) containing TMZ.
"The CAS panel determined that this explanation was not corroborated by any concrete evidence and that the athlete was not able to establish that she had not committed the ADRV intentionally."
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CAS confirmed all Valieva's results subsequent to the failed test had been disqualified and she would have to forfeit any medals won during her period of disqualification, which includes the team gold she won with Russia in Beijing. However, Russia's national Olympic committee now intends to appeal the loss of that medal.
In its decision, CAS said it had found Valieva's age at the time of the doping violation had no bearing on the sanction it should impose, and there is a burden on athletes of all ages to prove there had been no intention to commit the violation.
