br>
On Tuesday, the International Skating Union (ISU) decided to redistribute medals in the team figure skating tournament to Olympic Games 2022 in Beijing after the announcement of the verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case of Kamila Valieva. The Russian team received bronze instead of gold, and the Canadians, contrary to their own expectations, remained fourth. Neither side agreed to this — and the award ceremony was postponed again, as CAS would have to deal with a new case on the same topic. Sports correspondent talks about how it could end.
Well, as expected, the “second part of the Marlezon ballet” awaits us — the case of the redistribution of medals in the team tournament at the Olympic Games will be transferred to CAS. On Tuesday morning, the International Skating Union released a release with new results. The points that Valieva earned by taking first place in the short and free programs in women's single skating were crossed out from the table. But other teams were not given any points in these segments of the competition. In this regard, the Russian team dropped to third place in the final protocol.
Although the most expected before this decision was a different logic, according to which the Russians were left without medals. If Valieva’s result is canceled in each of the disciplines of the team tournament, then the remaining participants, in theory, should move up a line in the protocol. In particular, Canadian Madeleine Skizas, who became third in both the short program and the free program, rises to second place — and according to this logic, two team points should be added to her team. If the ISU had acted this way, the Canadian team would have beaten the Russian team and won bronze.
Skate Canada, in all likelihood, was confident that the second option would be the ISU's decision, because immediately after the announcement of the CAS verdict in the Valieva case, it issued a release full of joy. “Skate Canada applauds the CAS decision… We are proud of the incredible dedication and sportsmanship that our Canadian skaters have shown throughout the entire process,” the organization said in part.
A day later, the Canadian federation had to issue a new statement with a completely different tone. «Skate Canada is extremely disappointed in the ISU's position regarding the long-awaited award of the team figure skating medals at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games and will consider all appeal options,» the release said.
But even when it was night in Canada, the Russian Olympic Committee responded to the deprivation of our team’s gold medals, declaring that “they will definitely appeal to CAS the ISU decision on the redistribution of the final places in the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.” «Our lawyers have already begun preparing the necessary documents for filing an appeal. We proceed from the fact that, in accordance with the current, applicable ISU rules, the consequences of a decision on sanctions against an individual athlete, in this case Kamila Valieva, cannot be the basis for reviewing the results of the team tournament. Our legal position is based, among other things, on existing precedents in CAS practice,» the ROC release notes.
It seems that the ISU made a decision that suddenly left the Russian team with medals, albeit bronze ones, for a reason. But not in order to preserve at least a modicum of fairness in the final protocol, where, of course, the Russian team would definitely have been first, if instead of Valieva, whose doping test seemed to be deliberately suspended for a month and a half — just before the end of the team tournament — in the Stockholm laboratory, any of our other top figure skaters performed. And in order not to take responsibility and wash your hands of this complex matter. Any other decision would appear one-sided, and the organization would certainly be accused of favoritism. Here — neither yours nor ours. With dissatisfaction on both sides, the ISU ensured that the final decision would have to be made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
It is quite difficult to speculate on how the process in CAS might end. Since 2014, when medals were awarded for the first time in the team figure skating tournament, there has never been a need to redistribute them. Most likely, the ISU thought that it wouldn’t be necessary, since the regulations, frankly speaking, were written rather carelessly and allow for different interpretations.
But it is possible to guess what the parties will rely on. Thus, the Canadian Figure Skating Federation has already announced this. «The ISU in its decision does not apply Rule 353, which states that 'competitors who finish the competition and are initially placed lower than the disqualified athlete shall accordingly advance in their position,'» Skate Canada said in a statement. That is, this is the direction to the fact that, in the opinion of the Canadians, their team should be awarded two points — one each, respectively, for the women's short and free programs.
However, the Russian side may well give a counterargument in response to this argument: in the entire text of rule 353 there is not a single mention of the team tournament of the Olympic Games. And formally, from the fact that the protocol of one of the segments of these competitions is being revised, it does not follow that there is a need to award additional points. The regulations of the “commander” himself say nothing about this.
However, this logic is needed in order to protect bronze. And the ROC emphasized in its statement that it is going to fight exclusively for gold. And the Russian side also has obvious reasons for this. For example, clauses of the ISU anti-doping rules regarding team competitions. They only talk about the consequences for teams whose members committed doping violations during the tournament. But there is not a word about those who tested positive earlier and were retroactively disqualified. Valieva was tested at the Olympics itself, like the rest of the skaters, and her tests were clean.
A separate section of the World Anti-Doping Code is devoted to doping violations in team sports. But none of its provisions directly relate to the team figure skating tournament at the Olympics — simply because its status is also not spelled out in the regulations. The CAS decision will depend, among other things, on the analogy with which they decide to perceive it.
Let’s say, if we consider this a team competition like football/volleyball/basketball, etc., then it includes a clause in the code, according to which a team is punished if more than two of its members have committed doping violations. It follows from this that the result of the Russian team should not be revised at all. Especially considering the fact that Valieva simply would not have been included in the team if the Stockholm laboratory had not marinated her sample until the end of the Olympic tournament.
But even if we perceive the Olympic “team team” of figure skaters as a relay race in skiing/biathlon/athletics, then there is also no talk of automatically punishing the entire team for doping one athlete. There were precedents when the results were not revised and the teams’ medals were retained. For example, CAS retained the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relay medals for the US women's track and field team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, despite the fact that star runner Marion Jones was retroactively disqualified for doping.
From all of the above, it is clear that the case of redistribution of medals will become a precedent for CAS, and the work for the parties’ lawyers will be endless. And it is just as clear that there is no need to wait for an imminent award ceremony for the winners of the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. The process will take more than one month, and American figure skaters, apparently, need to take out their medal cases again in order to knock them on something again or pose with them for a photo shoot.
Well, the saying goes that they wait three years for what is promised. This is how it will most likely work out.