Kamila Valieva, a Russian figure skater, was initially cleared but now faces a four-year doping ban.
A Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) investigation determined that the youngster had “no fault or negligence” for a failed test before to the 2022 Winter Olympics, where she won team gold at the age of 15.
However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) appeal.
“The doping of children is unforgivable,” Wada responded.
Valieva’s failed test was only revealed after she helped Russia win the team gold medal in Beijing.
The ban has been retroactively applied to December 25, 2021, the date Valieva failed the test, and the Cas panel has also ordered “the disqualification of all competitive results achieved” beginning with that date.
However, it stated that the authority to deprive Russia of the gold medal was “not within the scope of this arbitration procedure and will have to be examined by the sports organisations concerned”.
The International Skating Union, the governing organization, welcomed the Cas ruling and said that a detailed statement on the ramifications would be published on Tuesday.
Cas stated that Valieva, who is now 17, did not protest the presence of a forbidden substance and was asked to choose what consequences, if any, she should face.
“Ms Valieva was not able to establish, on the balance of probabilities and on the basis of the evidence before the panel, that she had not committed the Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) intentionally,” the panel said in its conclusion.
It noted that it made no difference “whether the athlete is an adult or a Protected Person,” referring to Valieva’s age at the time of the failed test.
