WADA calls for Valieva to be suspended

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will challenge Russian figure skating star Kamila Valieva’s right to continue to compete at the Beijing Winter Olympics, after a doping test from the teenager taken in December returned a positive result.

WADA said it will file an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an attempt to overturn the decision by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), which allowed the skater to train and compete in Beijing after she successfully appealed against an initial provisional suspension.

"The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) wishes to confirm that it intends to lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in relation to the anti-doping case involving a Russian Olympic Committee figure skater who tested positive for a prohibited substance in an event prior to the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing," the statment said. 

WADA claimed in its statement that the WADA Code has "not been correctly applied" in the decision to lift Valieva's provisional suspension. 

The announcement came after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Skating Union (ISU) also stated their intentions to file appeals to CAS to have a suspension reimposed on Valieva.

Valieva played a pivotal role in the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team winning gold in the team figure skating event earlier at the Beijing Games, where they toped the podium ahead of the USA and Japan.

The International Testing Agency (ITA) revealed on Friday that the skater tested positive for banned heart medicine trimetazidine.

The sample was tested at a WADA-accredited lab in Stockholm, which reported the positive result on February 8, a day after Russian skaters won gold in the team event.