Russia (bbabo.net), - The decision to allow our single skater to compete was made on the basis of several exceptional circumstances.

“The athlete is under the age of 16 and is a “protected person” under the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), Reeb said in a statement. - The RUSADA and WADC anti-doping rules are silent on provisional suspensions imposed on protected persons, while these rules contain specific provisions on standards of evidence and lower sanctions for protected persons. In particular, the panel considered that the exclusion of an athlete from the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable harm and damage in the circumstances.

CAS also took into account that the athlete was late notified of a positive doping test, without giving time to defend her interests.

“Problems related to the late notification of the athlete about the results of the doping test conducted in December 2021 prevented her from carrying out certain legal procedures,” Reeb said. - This situation in the midst of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing was not her fault. If the test result had been released on time - a week or 10 days in advance - we would not be here and we would not have to make such a decision.

Mathieu Ribe also clarified that the CAS panel made a decision only regarding the removal of the temporary suspension from the figure skater Valieva. The arbitrators did not consider the case on the merits and did not assess the legal consequences associated with the results of the team figure skating competition, where the Russian team won gold. These issues will be considered in other proceedings.

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