This was decided by the international sports court CAS. The suspension will take effect from December 25, 2021. Valieva tested positive that month during the Russian national championships. Valieva, then 15, had used a banned heart drug.

The result of the test was announced only on February 8, 2022, a day after she won the nations competition with the Russian team at the Beijing Games. In this competition she was the first female figure skater to perform a quadruple jump. After an emergency hearing by CAS, she was also allowed to compete in the individual tournament in Beijing, pending the investigation.

The disciplinary committee of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) reached a decision on the doping case months later. Valieva had committed an offense for which she had “no fault or negligence” and for that reason she was not punished. The world anti-doping agency WADA and the international skating union ISU challenged this decision with CAS. WADA also requested a four-year ban.

The Kremlin denounced the CAS decision, calling it a “political decision” to suspend Valieva for four years. “Of course we don’t agree with that. From my point of view, it is politically motivated,” government spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies.

WADA responded positively to the news of the suspension. “Doping children is inexcusable,” WADA responded in a statement, also calling for action against doctors, coaches and other staff found to be administering performance-enhancing drugs to underage athletes. “WADA would like to encourage governments to introduce legislation that would make the provision of doping to minors a criminal offence, as some countries have already done.”