United States officials welcomed the four-year ban handed down to Russian skater Kamila Valieva by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, describing the decision as a victory for clean athletes around the world.
United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee chief executive Sarah Hirshland said US skaters poised to be awarded gold medals from the 2022 Olympics in the wake of the decision will soon receive the recognition they deserve.
"Today is a day we have been eagerly awaiting for two years, as it is a significant win not only for Team USA athletes but also for athletes worldwide who practice fair play and advocate for clean sport," Hirshland said.
Valieva was handed the doping ban on Monday, effectively stripping the Russian Olympic Committee of their gold medal in the team event at the Beijing Winter Games.
In its long-awaited ruling, the court found Valieva guilty of committing an anti-doping rule violation that rattled the Beijing Olympics and frustrated competitors who are still waiting for their medals from the event to be allocated.
"Kamila Valieva is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 25 December 2021," the court said.
All of Valieva's competitive results achieved since that date are voided, including the gold medal she helped ROC win in the team event at the 2022 Games.
The World Anti-Doping Agency, one of the parties that brought the case to CAS, welcomed the decision, describing it as a victory for fair sport.
"Even though the process might be a bit tortuous, the end result has been and is to the satisfaction of the clean athletes" said Olivier Niggli, the watchdog's director general.
Wada president Witold Banka said the doping of minors should be a criminal offense.
Russian athletes already faced scrutiny at the 2022 Games over separate doping sanctions and competed in Beijing without their flag or national anthem as punishment for tampering with laboratory data that could have identified drug cheats.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the ruling as politically motivated.
Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, which prevents angina, at the Russian national championships in December 2021.
Her team has said the positive test could have been due to a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medication.
The result of the positive doping test was only made known a day after Valieva helped the ROC win gold in the team event in Beijing in February 2022.
AGENCIES
Kamila Valieva
