Hearings on the case of figure skater Kamila Valieva will be held from 26 to 29 August. The decision of the International Court of Arbitration (CAS) determines the distribution of medals in the team tournament of the Olympic Games, where the Russians won, the United States came second, the Japanese third and the Canadians fourth. In an exclusive interview with “Soviet Sport”, sports lawyer Sergei Alekseev told what decision we should expect, what would happen if Camila was found guilty, and assessed whether the Americans would be allowed to attend the hearing.
The US team demands that its representative be present at the hearing of the Valieva case
– The final hearings on the Kamila Valieva case will take place from August 26 to 29, what can we expect?– Here I would like to hope that the International Sports Arbitration will support the decision of the first instance – the RUSADA Anti-Doping Disciplinary Committee, since professional referees voted unanimously in favor of the decision, and to refute it, WADA needs good reasons. Therefore, this case will be decided by a panel of three arbitrators. One of them is chosen by Kamilla Valieva’s team, the second by AMA and the third by TAS. It seems that the decision taken in the first instance is correct and objective. We hope it stays the same and WADA’s appeal is dismissed.
– Can the TAS case be extended again or should we wait for a decision in the next few days?– The decision will be made in some time, maybe in a month or two or even more. The verdict will not be delivered immediately on these dates. Now there will be discussion, clarification of certain points and the final decision will be announced much later, so you have to be patient.
– Under what conditions can Valieva still be found guilty?– Firstly, if the drug entered the body of an athlete, this happened against his will, therefore, taking into account the norms of the World Anti-Doping Code and the All-Russian anti-doping rules, liability should not apply to its. In addition, the concentration is low and could only affect the result of the Russian Championship, and not the results of the Eurocup, nor the Olympic Games. This means that the fact that the results of the Russian championship were annulled is a decision made by the RUSADA anti-doping disciplinary committee.
Now it is somehow difficult to predict, taking into account the political situation, since the CAS makes not legal, but political decisions, as was the case with the RFU. In the case of Valieva, it is scary that they accept the political. But I hope that a fair and objective result is obtained and that the first decision remains unchanged.
– In this scenario, will the team lose overall medals or get silver?– Regarding the performance of the team, the result of this process does not directly affect the result. This issue will be considered separately. Naturally, since at the Olympics, according to doping control, Kamila Valieva passed all the tests clean, and earlier in January, and the concentration itself on December 25 was poor. Therefore, this episode could not affect the results of the team competition at the Beijing Olympics. In my opinion, even in the case of a punitive decision, God forbid, against Valieva CAS, the results of the team competition should not be cancelled.
– The US side has expressed its desire to be present at the hearing. What are the chances that your petition will be accepted? And how is it generally legal?– Everything depends on the decision of the TAS. If the process is public, open, then this is possible. But normally these cases are heard behind closed doors, because the US team is not a party to the case or a participant in the process.
