ワリエワ処分の露が銅に降格、日本は銀　北京五輪フィギュア団体

【ローザンヌＡＦＰ＝時事】フィギュアスケート女子のカミラ・ワリエワ（ロシア）が、ドーピング違反により４年間の資格停止処分とその間の全成績の取り消し処分を科されたことを受け、国際スケート連盟（ＩＳＵ）は３０日、２０２２年北京冬季五輪のフィギュアスケート団体でロシア五輪委員会（ＲＯＣ）が金メダルから銅メダルに降格することを発表した。（写真は、北京冬季五輪、フィギュアスケート女子シングル・フリースケーティング。演技に臨むロシア五輪委員会〈ＲＯＣ〉のカミラ・ワリエワ）
　ワリエワの処分決定を受け、ＩＳＵは「団体戦の順位の見直し」を実行。これにより米国が金メダルに、日本も銀メダルに繰り上げとなった。一方でカナダは４位のままとなり、失意を味わうことになった。
　カナダは他の競技であれば銅メダルが期待できたが、ＩＳＵの規定では、団体戦でチーム全体が失格になるのは大会中の薬物検査で陽性反応が出た場合のみ。ワリエワの違反は大会の２か月前だったため当てはまらず、ＲＯＣは団体の得点からワリエワの分が差し引かれるだけとなった。
　一方で、アイスダンスでエヴァン・ベイツとペアを組む米国のマディソン・チョークは、２０２４年パリ五輪でメダル授与式を実施してほしいと話している。
　昨年の世界フィギュア王者で、北京五輪王者となった米国の９人のうちの一人であるチョークは、「みんなずっと、本当のメダル授与式をやってほしいと考えていた。僕らにとって、それは今夏のパリ五輪で、五輪精神に包まれて表彰式を行うことだ」とコメントした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/01/31-16:50）

Kamila Valieva's doping ban has resulted in Russia being demoted from gold to bronze in the team figure skating event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, the International Skating Union (ISU) said Tuesday.
The then 15-year-old's positive test in December 2021, for which she received a four-year ban on Monday, has led the ISU to perform a re-ranking of the Team event from the Beijing Games.
The USA have been promoted to the gold medal with Japan moving up to silver.
Canada will be disappointed as they finished fourth in Beijing and in other sports would have expected to be promoted to bronze.
However, unlike in athletics, ISU regulations only provide for collective disqualification in the event of a positive doping control of one of the athletes during the competition, not eight weeks before as was the case with Valieva.
Her four-year ban from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was confirmed on Monday.
The Figure Skating Federation of Russia said it categorically disagreed with the CAS decision in a statement.
In her defence, Valieva blamed contamination by cutlery she shared with her grandfather, who was treated with the drug trimetazidine after receiving an artificial heart, and who drove her to training every day.
Doubt surrounds the value of trimetazidine to athletes, which is normally used to treat angina, due in particular to its numerous side effects ranging from gait disorders to hallucinations.
In Beijing in February 2022, Valieva became the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in Olympic competition, as she helped Russia secure team gold.
The next day, she was told she had tested positive before the Games for trimetazidine.
- 'Dream scenario' -
Valieva was dropped from Russia's team scoring, lifting the US squad into the gold medal spot, and the American skaters said Tuesday they would like a medals ceremony at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Reigning world ice dance champions Evan Bates and Madison Chock were among nine Americans who have become the 2022 Olympic team champions.
We've thought about it, Chock said. We would like to have true Olympic medal ceremony. For us, that would be a ceremony at the Paris Olympics this summer... surrounded by the Olympic spirit.
That would be the dream scenario.
From the start, the case has presented a dilemma. Valieva's age should have guaranteed her confidentiality under WADA rules for protected persons younger than 16.
Partly as a result of the Valieva case, the ISU is raising the lower age limit for its senior category from 15 to 17 from this year, citing the physical, mental and emotional health of competitors.
RUSADA tested the skater on December 25, 2021, as she won the Russian championships.
They sent the sample to the WADA-accredited laboratory in Stockholm. The laboratory found a minute concentration of trimetazidine but, delayed by the Covid pandemic, the result was not delivered until during the Beijing Olympics.
Under the pressure of suspicion and the worldwide media attention, Valieva cracked in the individual event in Beijing, stumbling four times in the free skate and finishing in tears as she tumbled from first to fourth.
At the end of the year, RUSADA ruled that Valieva bore no fault or negligence for the positive test.
After being cleared by RUSADA, Valieva returned to competition, taking second place in the Russian championships at the end of 2022.
Last November, she won the Russian Grand Prix in spite of falling twice in the free skate, and could only finish third in the 2023 Russian championships.