Why is she allowed to participate?
To discover
The Olympic medal table: Norway already in the lead, France unlocks its counter
Full results of the 2022 Winter Olympics
The complete program of the Beijing Olympics 2022
Far from deciding the merits of the case, the CAS was seized of a single question: should the young prodigy, already victorious in the team last week, and favorite of the individual event on Tuesday be allowed to compete?
Provisionally suspended by the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) last Tuesday, the day of the announcement of its positive result, Valieva had obtained the lifting of this measure on Wednesday on appeal.
"It's not the athlete's fault if the notification reached him in the middle of the Olympics", explained the Director General of the CAS, Matthieu Reeb, but this delay prevented him from defending himself "and that must benefit him".
While the World Anti-Doping Agency provides for a result within 20 days - and less in the event of a major competition such as the Games - its approved laboratory in Stockholm took six weeks to analyze the sample from Valieva, taken by Rusada on December 25 during the Championships. from Russia to St. Petersburg.
In this context, "preventing her from participating in the Olympics would have caused irreparable damage", continued Mr. Reeb, depriving her of any chance of gold if later "she had not been sanctioned or had received a weak sanction ".
Finally, recalls the CAS, Kamila Valieva is under 16 and is therefore considered by WADA as a "protected person", with specific rules of evidence and lightened penalties.
What does she risk after the Olympics?
In several months will come the time to examine the consequences of her positive test, with a double stake: a period of prohibition of any competition if she is found guilty of having doped, and the retroactive cancellation of all her results. since December 25.
She can therefore not only lose her title of Russian champion at the end of 2021 and European champion at the start of 2022, but also the Olympic team gold and the possible medal that she can win individually at the Olympic Games.
His young age already implies reduced sanctions, ranging from a “reprimand” to “two years of suspension”, against four usually, according to the World Anti-Doping Code.
It will also be time for the young skater to explain the presence in her body of trimetazidine, a point which could prove to be crucial: the regulations of the International Skating Federation (ISU) allow for example to escape a suspension if the athlete has ingested a “contaminated product” with a prohibited substance.
What is trimetazidine?
Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, used to relieve angina pectoris and banned by the WADA since 2014 for promoting blood circulation.
Unrelated to the cocktail of steroids used by the Russians during the incredible scandal of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, or with the EPO involved in endurance disciplines, trimetazidine is rarely detected in a sports setting.
In addition, the reality of its doping effect remains debated, in particular because of its “many side effects” ranging from “gait disorders” to “hallucinations”, underlined at the end of 2020 the toxicologist and pharmacist Pascal Kintz, in the journal “Toxicologie Analytical and Clinical”.
Finally, sports authorities have already recognized at least two cases of accidental contamination with trimetazidine, dating back to 2018: that of American swimmer Madisyn Cox, via a food supplement (reduced suspension), and that of Russian bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva, suspended during the Pyeongchang Olympics and cleared eight months later.
What consequences for Russia?
Russia was suspended from all international competition by the CAS for two years at the end of 2020, but its athletes can compete under a neutral flag if they have not been personally sanctioned for doping.
If the Valieva affair turns out to be only an individual breach of the anti-doping rules, it will have no additional consequences for Russian sport, except to tarnish its image again: the decision taken in 2020 was directly aimed at the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada), for having first orchestrated and concealed institutionalized doping, then for having manipulated computer data requested by WADA.