Uproar as Russians clear doper Valieva

RUSSIAN anti-doping authorities have ruled Kamila Valieva, the teenage skater at the centre of the drugs scandal that rocked last year’s Winter Olympics, was not at fault for her positive test. In a controversial ruling that will be appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) found Valieva ‘bore no fault or negligence’. The Russian faced being stripped of the skating team gold she won as a 15-year-old in Beijing — a victory quickly followed by the revelation she had tested positive in December 2021 for the banned substance trimetazidine. Valieva’s legal team claimed in the subsequent storm that she may have accidentally ingested heart medication belonging to her grandfather by sharing a glass of water. RUSADA have not disclosed an explanation for why they cleared Valieva (right), having said they will conduct their affairs in private as she was a minor at the time of the positive. However, WADA, who will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, said: ‘The (RUSADA) tribunal found that although the athlete had committed an anti-doping rule violation, she bore “no fault or negligence” for it. As such, the tribunal imposed no sanction except for the disqualification of her results on the date of the sample collection. ‘Based on the elements of the case, the agency is concerned by the finding and will exercise its right of appeal.’ US Anti-Doping chief Travis Tygart was scathing of the RUSADA verdict. He said: ‘WADA and the ISU (International Skating Union) must appeal this decision, for the sake of the credibility of the anti-doping system and the rights of all athletes. ‘RUSADA has been a key instrument of Russia’s statesponsored doping fraud.’ In the midst of the doping storm caused by Valieva’s positive, the gold medal favourite was cleared to compete in the individual competition by the International Olympic Committee, but failed to finish in the top three.