The decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to allow Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva to compete in the individual tournament at the Beijing Olympics was ethically correct, and also represented a textbook application of established laws. This is how Dorian Coleman, an American lawyer, Duke Law School professor and co-director of the Center for Sports Law and Politics, explained it in an article for The Washington Post.
According to the expert, the exit panel was only to determine whether it was possible to allow the athlete to compete further in the Olympic Games – the question of whether Valieva violated anti-doping laws will be decided later. At the same time, the 15-year-old Russian woman was on the side of not only the status of a “protected person” due to her age, but also the fact that so far there is too little evidence in the case that would clearly testify to her guilt or innocence. Given these circumstances, the court rightly decided that the removal of Valieva could cause her irreparable harm, Coleman believes.
Related materials:
She also recalled a similar precedent in US sports history. So, in 1992, the US Supreme Court allowed the world record holder, athlete Butch Reynolds, to participate in the qualifying tests for the Olympics, despite the fact that he was serving a two-year disqualification for doping. The court motivated its decision by the fact that errors were identified in the procedure for processing the athlete’s samples, and the importance of the Olympic medal, which Reynolds could count on, cannot be underestimated.
The lawyer urged not to turn Valieva into a punching bag, even amid fears that the Russian state could sponsor the doping system. While the Russian figure skater is a world-class athlete, she said, she is also a child who could hardly have made the decision to use illegal drugs on her own. In addition, Coleman noted, there is currently no real evidence that the trimetazidine found in Valieva’s sample increases endurance and performance.
Solutions cannot only be politically expedient; they must be based on law and evidence. Destroying the most talented child is not the way to fix what’s broken in the anti-doping movement
Dorian ColemanAmerican lawyer and professor at Duke Law School
On February 14, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) allowed Valieva to participate in the individual tournament at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
The IOC refused to award the winners of the team figure skating tournament, in which the Russians became the strongest. In addition, the organizers of the Games will not hold an awards ceremony if Valieva is among the winners in the individual tournament.
Source: Lenta
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
