ZURICH, Feb 15 The defense of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was surprised by the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding the awards ceremony for the winners and prize-winners of the team figure skating tournament at the Beijing Games, Anna Kozmenko, a partner at the Swiss law firm Schellenberg Wittmer, who represents the interests of the athlete, said. On Friday, the International Doping Testing Agency (ITA) reported that the doping test Valieva on 25 December 2021 tested positive for trimetazidine. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), despite the appeals of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Skating Union (ISU) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), allowed Valieva to the personal tournament of the Games in Beijing. However, the IOC stated that if Valieva gets on the podium, the awards ceremony will not be held. The proceedings against the athlete will continue.» Of course, we were surprised by this decision of the IOC, because the independent panel of CAS arbitrators, who listened to the case for several hours and which considered the arguments of all parties in full, satisfied all of Camila's demands, namely to reject the IOC appeals, WADA and ISU and allow her to continue to compete on a par with other participants,» Kozmenko said.
