CAS denies Canada's appeal of team figure skating medal allocation

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed a Canadian appeal of the International Skating Union's decision to award the bronze medal in the team figure skating event from the 2022 Beijing Olympics to Russia.

The CAS said in a release Friday that the ISU correctly reallocated the points in the event after the retroactive disqualification of Kamila Valieva, which dropped the Russians from first to third and elevated the United States to gold and Japan to silver.

The Canadian appeal had challenged the ISU decision and argued Canada should have been given points after Valieva's disqualification that would have given it the bronze medal.

“The COC is disappointed with the decision by CAS to not award Canada the bronze medal for the figure skating team event at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games," the Canadian Olympic Committee said in a statement following the ruling.

"We believe that under the International Skating Union’s rules, the points should have been reallocated following the doping sanction against Russian skater Kamila Valieva, and it is unfortunate that the CAS did not agree. We applaud Team Canada’s figure skaters for having endured this lengthy process with grace, and we admire them for their performance on and off the ice."

Russia skated to gold in the event in Beijing before it was revealed Valieva had tested positive for a banned heart medicine in a sample obtained before the Games.

Her disqualification removed Valieva's maximum 10 points from each of her two events, but that still gave Russia one more point than fourth-place Canada in the revised standings.

An appeal launched by the COC, Skate Canada and the skaters on Canada's team — Madeline Schizas, Piper Gilles, Paul Poirier, Kirsten Moore-Towers, Michael Marinaro, Eric Radford, Vanessa James and Roman Sadovsky — argued that points should have been given to teams who rose in the event standings following Valieva's disqualification.

The Canadians argued that the ISU did not appropriately apply Rule 353, which states “competitors having finished the competition and who initially placed lower than the disqualified competitor will move up accordingly in their placement.”

Canada would have been one point ahead of Russia if those amendments were made.

"Skate Canada respects the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the allocation of medals," the Canadian federation said in a statement. "While we are disappointed that the ruling does not award Canada the bronze medal, we stand by the efforts and performances of our athletes. Their dedication, resilience, and sportsmanship throughout this entire process exemplify the spirit of Canadian figure skating."

The CAS heard the Canadian appeal on July 22, and after deliberating it concluded that Valieva's points were correctly disqualified "without any possibility in the ISU Rules to reallocate points in favour of Team Canada."

It's the second time in three days that the CAS has dismissed a Canadian Olympic appeal. The court on Wednesday upheld FIFA's six-point deduction from Canada's women's soccer team in Paris as a result of a drone spying scandal.

Despite retaining bronze, no Russian skaters will step onto the podium when the team figure skating medals are finally presented next week at the Paris Games.

No medals were awarded 2 1/2 years ago in Beijing after the then-15-year-old Valieva helped her team win the competition.

The medal ceremony plan remained on hold until this week because of Russian appeals to a separate CAS judging panel about being dropped to third place. Those appeals were decided on Monday.

That let the IOC confirm a ceremony for American and Japanese skaters to get their medals at Champions Park, next to the Eiffel Tower, next Wednesday.

After CAS published its verdict, the IOC confirmed Friday it will award only gold and silver medals in Paris.

“There are no athletes or teams representing Russia (in Paris) as the Russian Olympic Committee is currently suspended,” the IOC said in a statement. “For this and for logistical reasons there cannot be a medal ceremony, here in Paris, for the Russian Olympic Committee team that got the bronze medal.”

The 15 Russian athletes at the Paris Olympics are competing as neutral individuals after being vetted over several months for possible support for the military invasion of Ukraine.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2024.

With files from The Associated Press