The ongoing Valieva situation & the Beijing Olympics Team Medals - Jan. Aug. 2024 CAS decisions released - RESOLVED?

[Elizabeth]

It has been announced that Kaori Sakamoto, Wakaba Higuchi, Yuma Kagiyama, Riku Miura, Ryuichi Kihara, Misato Komatsubara and Tim Koleto will attend the postponed Beijing Olympic medal ceremony to be held on August 7 in Paris.
Shoma Uno will be absent due to a scheduling conflict.

The photo from the original event

[Elizabeth]

Well darn, the CAS has denied the Canadian appeal: https://t.co/qw2RvDp0Ej

MEDIA RELEASE

OWG BEIJING 2022 – FIGURE SKATING – TEAM EVENT
THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS) DISMISSES THE APPEAL
FILED BY CANADIAN FIGURE SKATERS, SKATE CANADA,
AND THE CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

Lausanne, 2 August 2024 – The CAS Panel in charge of the appeals filed by Canadian skaters Madeline
Schizas, Piper Gilles, Paul Poirier, Kirsten Moore-Towers, Michael Marinaro, Eric Radford, Vanessa
James and Roman Sadovsky, together with Skate Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC)
(collectively, the Appellants) against the re-ranking decision announced by the International Skating
Union (ISU) on 30 January 2024 (the Challenged Decision) in relation to the final standings for the Team
Event in figure skating at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 has issued its decision: the appeal is
dismissed. The ranking announced by the ISU on 30 January 2024 is confirmed as follows:
1. United States of America 65 pts (gold)
2. Japan 63 pts (silver)
3. Russia 54 pts (bronze)

The Appellants had sought a ruling from CAS re-ranking the figure skating Team Event as follows: re-
ranking the figure skating Team Event, as follows: United States of America (Gold); Japan (Silver);
Canada (Bronze).

Following the hearing that took place on 22 July 2024, the Panel of CAS arbitrators in charge of the
matter deliberated and concluded that the results of the Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva in the
Olympic Figure Skating Team Event were correctly disqualified, without any possibility in the ISU Rules
to re-allocate points in favour of Team Canada, following the retroactive disqualification of Kamila
Valieva.

The Panel issued the Operative Part of the Arbitral Award. The full award, with the grounds for the
Panel’s decision, will be issued as soon as possible.

The Skate Canada statement:


The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) statement:


=============
A personal comment: I think the key phrase in the CAS ruling is "without any possibility in the ISU rules..." If the team event continues to be in the Olympic program, the ISU must update their rules to cover a skater's disqualification in that event.

[kittykins]

This is really unfortunate and unfair. It will be interesting if Russia will be able to attend the ceremony as a team when only individual athletes will be able to compete at these Games. I'm happy for the U.S. & Japanese teams. Since the Russians were a team, one person cheating should have disqualifed the whole team in my opinon, but I feel for the Russian skaters who were competing fairly.

[Elizabeth]

The skaters representing the ROC will not receive medals on August 7th. The ISU/IOC are consulting as to what to do...
Here is the ISU statement: https://www.isu.org/isu-news/news/145-n ... teParam=15

02 August 2024 - Lausanne / Switzerland

The International Skating Union (ISU) has taken note of the CAS decision released today to dismiss the appeal filed by the Canadian Figure Skaters, Skate Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee (read CAS decision here), which confirms the following re-ranking of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games Figure Skating Team Event results, as announced by the ISU on January 30th:

1st United States of America

2nd Japan

3rd ROC

This decision ends a prolonged and trying period for the skaters, who have shown immense patience and resilience over the past 29 months. The ISU is thankful that these dedicated athletes can finally be properly recognized and receive the medals they rightfully deserve.

Following the CAS decision of July 25 (read CAS decision here) to dismiss the appeal of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), the ROC Figure Skaters and the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSFR), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will award the medals during a special ceremony which will be held at the Champions Park in Paris on August 7, 2024 for the gold and silver medallists. Further to today’s decision, the ISU is in contact with the IOC to determine the next steps for the third place.

The ISU remains firmly committed to promoting safe and clean sport, which was further reinforced during the 2024 ISU Congress. Through the implementation of the ISU Vision 2030, the ISU will continue to take concrete actions together with all relevant stakeholders to uphold the integrity of its competitions and protect the athletes’ physical and mental well-being.



Summary - Beijing 2022 Olympic Figure Skating Team Event ranking:

The Figure Skating Team Event medal ceremony from the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 was delayed because of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) committed by Figure Skater Kamila Valieva (ROC Team) at the Russian National Championships in December 2021. The positive doping result was revealed at the conclusion of the Olympic Figure Skating Team Event in Beijing in February 2022. The ROC Team was ranked first in the Team competition.

On January 29, 2024, in the case between the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), the International Skating Union (ISU), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the ROC Figure Skater Kamila Valieva, the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) suspended Ms. Valieva for four years (read CAS decision here) with an ineligibility period starting as from December 25, 2021. As a consequence, Ms. Valieva’s results from all competitions which took place during the period of ineligibility including the 2022 Olympic Winter Games were disqualified.

Based on the CAS award sanctioning Ms. Valieva, the ISU re-ranked the Teams as following: 1st Team USA, 2nd Team Japan and 3rd Team ROC (read ISU Statement here). The ISU deducted the 20 points earned by Ms. Valieva based on the applicable rules and principles. As a result, Team ROC dropped from first to third place at 54 points while Team USA (65 points) and Team Japan (63 points) moved up.

Team ROC and Team Canada (in fourth place with 53 points) appealed this re-ranking (read CAS press release here). While Team ROC sought to be reinstated as winners of the competition, Team Canada demanded a different re-ranking that would put them in third place.

On July 25, the CAS dismissed the appeal of the Russian appellants (read CAS decision here) followed by the dismissal of the Canadians appellants on August 2nd (read CAS decision here), making this matter final and confirming the Teams from the USA, Japan and ROC as gold, silver and bronze medalists respectively, according to the ISU announcement from January 30, 2024 (read ISU Statement here).

[Elizabeth]

August 7th, 2024 - 2 & 1/2 years later, the US & Japanese team members are in Paris to receive their medals.




(Shoma Uno is missing - he has a show commitment in Switzerland that prevents him from attending)

[Elizabeth]

They received their gold & silver medals!




Shoma was there "in spirit" - see his name on Yuma's hand

[kittykins]

Thanks for the info. and pictures. The fact that they "don't know what to do" about the 3rd place medals is a pretty good indicator that the "wrong" decision was made. It's awkward no doubt. Those are lovely photos of the Americans and Japanese getting their medals. It was so cool to see them with their medals in the Paris location near the Eiffel Tower. It's just so sad that Canada didn't get medals too. Hopefully in 2 years they will be able to get a medal and with less drama.