She was hailed as the future of figure skating, a prodigy who defied gravity with her quadruple jumps. She was the darling of Russia, a golden girl who led her country to Olympic glory. She was only 15 years old, but she seemed destined for greatness.
But then, everything came crashing down.
Kamila Valieva, the youngest female skater to win an Olympic gold medal, has been banned for four years for doping, after a lengthy and controversial legal battle. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) overturned a previous decision by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) that had cleared her of any wrongdoing.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) had appealed against Rusada’s verdict, calling it a “travesty of justice”. Wada said that Valieva had tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication, before the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and that she had failed to prove that she had not taken it intentionally.
“The doping of children is unforgivable,” Wada said in a statement.
Valieva’s fall from grace was swift and dramatic. She had been the star of the show in Beijing, where she helped Russia clinch the team gold medal with a stunning performance that included a quad toe loop. She was the first woman to land a quad at the Olympics, and the crowd went wild.
But just four days later, the bombshell news broke: Valieva had been provisionally suspended for a positive test that had been taken on 25 December 2021, at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St Petersburg.
Valieva denied any knowledge of the substance, and claimed that she had been the victim of sabotage or contamination. She appealed to a court, which lifted her suspension and allowed her to compete in the individual event. But she was a shadow of her former self, falling and stumbling on the ice, and finishing in a disappointing sixth place. She sobbed as she left the rink, unaware that it would be her last Olympic appearance.
Rusada launched an investigation, and concluded that Valieva bore “no fault or negligence” for the positive test, citing her young age and lack of experience. But Wada and the International Skating Union (ISU) were not convinced, and took the case to Cas, the highest court in sports.
Cas sided with Wada and the ISU, and imposed a four-year ban on Valieva, retroactive to 25 December 2021. It also annulled all her results from that date, including her Olympic gold medal. Cas said that Valieva had failed to provide any credible evidence to support her innocence, and that her age was irrelevant.
“Ms Valieva was not able to establish, on the balance of probabilities and on the basis of the evidence before the panel, that she had not committed the Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) intentionally,” Cas said in its ruling.
The decision means that Russia will lose its team gold medal, and that the United States, Japan, and Canada will move up to the podium. It also means that Valieva will miss the next Winter Olympics in 2026, and that her promising career is effectively over.
The ISU welcomed the Cas ruling, and said that it had raised the minimum age for senior events from 15 to 17, to protect the health and well-being of young skaters. The ISU also urged Cas to determine the final results of the team event in Beijing, as it was not within its jurisdiction.
The Kremlin, however, blasted the Cas ruling as a “politicised” decision, and said that it would support Valieva in any further appeals. The Kremlin also accused Wada of having a “double standard” and of targeting Russian athletes unfairly.
Valieva, who is now 17, has not commented publicly on the Cas ruling. She has not competed since the Olympics, and her future plans are unknown. She was once the brightest star in the skating world, but now she is a pariah, a cautionary tale of how fame and fortune can turn to dust.