KAZAN, February 23, Adela Ziatdinova. Former Russian national team footballer Andrei Arshavin said that he was offended by the disqualified figure skater Kamila Valieva.
On Wednesday, the opening ceremony of the Games of the Future took place in Kazan, which was attended by Arshavin and Valieva. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on January 29 disqualified Valieva, who won the Beijing Olympics in team competition, for four years for violating anti-doping rules and annulled her results from December 25, 2021.
““When we were waiting there, we were just talking, nothing special. It’s a shame for her, to be honest,” Arshavin told reporters.
Valieva can return to competitions from December 24, 2025. The International Skating Union (ISU) has confirmed the new top three medalists in the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. After Valieva’s results were annulled, the Russians dropped from first place to third; gold went to the American team, silver to the Japanese. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) said it would file an appeal with CAS. The Russian Figure Skating Federation reported that it strongly disagrees with the CAS decision to disqualify Valieva for four years, as well as with the deprivation of Russian athletes of gold medals in team competitions at the Beijing Games.