Zhurova: The IOC cannot award the winners of the team tournament of the 2022 Games without Russians
First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Olympic champion in speed skating Svetlana Zhurova assessed Russia’s deprivation of gold in the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Games. Her words are quoted by TASS.
“They subtracted Kamila Valieva’s points, and that was enough for bronze. They didn’t cover up. This decision is fair in terms of points, but for us these athletes are still golden,” the deputy said. Zhurova added that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) cannot hold the award ceremony for the team tournament winners without the Russians.
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On January 29, the Court of Arbitration for Sport disqualified Valieva for four years for violating anti-doping rules. The period of suspension starts on December 25, 2021. The points for the figure skater’s performance at the 2022 Olympic Games were cancelled, as a result of which the Russian team dropped from first to third place in the team tournament standings. Gold went to the USA team, silver to Japan.
The doping scandal surrounding Valieva unfolded during the Beijing Olympics. After the end of the team tournament, it became known that traces of the banned drug trimetazidine were found in the sample of the then 15-year-old figure skater from December 2021.
Source: Lenta
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