The Albany Gazette - Russian skater Valieva loses neutral status

Valieva, 20, who was at the centre of a doping scandal that rocked the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, is among 234 Russian and Belarusian athletes who applied for neutral athlete status, the sport’s global governing body said in a statement.

Russian and Belarusian skaters were banned from international competition following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 although they were authorised to take part in events in the 2026/2027 season on the condition that they compete under a neutral flag.

To be granted this neutral status, athletes must meet three criteria: they must not be members of the army or security services of Russia or Belarus, must not have taken part in the war waged in Ukraine, and must never have publicly supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war.

Mark Kondratiuk, the 2022 European individual champion, has also had his neutral status revoked.

The ISU said two other Russian skaters, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, do not meet the neutral status requirements.

The ISU did not specify which criteria Valieva had failed to meet, but the skater's social medial channels contain posts supportive of Russia's military operations in Ukraine.

Russia's sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev said on Thursday that the four skaters will challenge the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

"The Figure Skating Federation of Russia and our skaters -- who have been unfairly deprived of the right to compete in international events under the auspices of the International Skating Union -- will soon file a claim against the ISU with the CAS," Degtyarev said.

Valieva returned to competition in Russia in January, four years after the Olympic doping scandal that led to her lengthy suspension.

She was a 15-year-old prodigy and became the first skater in history to land a quadruple jump at an Olympics, winning gold in the team event.

But it emerged during the Beijing Games that she had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine following the Russian championships in December 2021.

Valieva claimed in her defence that it was the result of accidental contamination.

After multiple appeals, she was suspended for four years dating back to December 25, 2021. Russia was relegated to third place in the team event although Valieva was stripped of her medal.

(K.Jones--TAG)