Fetisov Demands That the Olympic Gold Medal Be Returned to Controversial Figure Skater Valieva
Former Russian hockey player Vyacheslav Fetisov stated that the International Skating Union’s decision to grant figure skater Kamila Valieva neutral status is no cause for celebration, since the athlete has still been stripped of her Olympic medal. He made these remarks in a comment to the propaganda agency TASS, emphasizing that, first and foremost, her gold medal must be returned to her.
In January 2024, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) disqualified Valieva for four years due to a positive doping test for trimetazidine, detected in February 2022. The court annulled all of her results dating back to December 25, 2021, causing the Russian national team to lose its victory in the team event at the 2022 Olympics and drop to third place, handing the gold medal to the United States. The athlete was also stripped of her gold medal from the 2022 European Championships.
After her suspension ended, Valieva received neutral status from the ISU, which allows her to compete without the Russian flag or national anthem. However, at the end of May, she was not included in the Russian national team due to a lack of competitive experience. During her suspension, the figure skater participated in public events alongside dictator Vladimir Putin.
Source: TASS.
The ROC team was definitively stripped of its “gold” medal from the 2022 Olympic Games in the figure skating team event. The commission took into account the CAS decision regarding the disqualification of figure skater Kamila Valieva.
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who was a medal contender in the women’s singles competition at the Beijing Olympics, did not finish in the top three.
