Russian Figure Skater Kamila Valieva Returns to Competition After 4-Year Doping Ban That Altered 2022 Beijing Olympics

[ASFN Admin]

You must be registered for see images attach

Kamila Valieva in February 2026
Alexander NEMENOV / AFP via Getty

NEED TO KNOW​

• Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva returned to the ice to compete in a competition in Moscow, one of her first since the 2022 Beijing Olympics
• Valieva helped her team secure the gold medal in the 2022 Games; however, after testing positive for a banned substance, her team forfeited the win, which elevated Team USA to the top spot
• After a years-long ban, Valieva finished in sixth place in the Russian Jumping Championships

Kamila Valieva, the Russian figure skater who was caught up in a doping scandal that changed the fate of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, is back on the ice.

Now 19, Valieva competed in the Russian Jumping Championships at the Navka arena in Moscow on Saturday, Jan. 31 and Sunday, Feb. 1.

She finished the competition, in which skaters had 90 seconds to execute jumps, in sixth place, according to reporting by Reuters. During the competition, she landed the difficult quadruple toe loop, though there was an error with her landing.

This marked one of Valieva's first appearances on the ice since the 2022 Olympics, when a positive drug test lost the Russian figure skating team a gold medal.

You must be registered for see images attach

Kamila Valieva in February 2022
Catherine Ivill/Getty


Valieva was only 15 when she competed in the Games in 2022. She made history on the ice by becoming the first woman to land a quadruple jump during the competition.

Competing as a member of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), the teenaged skater helped her team secure the gold medal.

However, reports at the time suggested that the medal presentation was delayed after a blood sample that she provided tested positive for trimetazidine, a drug used to treat angina, which is a sort of chest pain.

"The theoretical benefit of trimetazidine would be in the lead up to competition, in training," Dr. Sean Heffron, a preventative cardiologist at NYU Langone's Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases, told PEOPLE at the time, adding, "It might allow for an athlete to be able to train at a higher intensity for longer periods."

In addition to testing positive for trimetazidine, Valieva's drug test showed that she had also tested positive for hypoxen and L- Carnatine. Though not banned, the drugs are typically used to treat the heart.

After the testing was done, the gold medal was taken from Russia and went to Team USA, who had previously finished with a silver medal.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In 2022, Valieva was able to continue skating in the Games after a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport identified her as a "protected person" due to her young age.

"The panel considered that preventing the athlete to compete at the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable harm in the circumstances," CAS Director General Matthieu Reeb said in a statement, per the Associated Press.

She competed in the short program in the women's single skating competition but finished in fourth place. Had she finished in the top three, the International Olympic Committee had decided that they would not have a medal ceremony to mark the occasion due to the circumstances.

You must be registered for see images attach

Kamila Valieva competes in the Russian Jumping Championships in February 2026
Alexander NEMENOV / AFP via Getty


Valieva will not be competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics, which start on Friday, Feb. 6.

In 2024, it was reported that she had been dropped from Russia's national figure skating team.

Read the original article on People

Continue reading...