Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered the decision that made athlete Sologub Yuriy (bodybuilding) ineligible for 4 years for violation under cl. 4.3 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, starting on the date of the decision, namely on February 13, 2024, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from October 23, 2023.
The National Center for Sports Arbitration rendered a decision against athlete Mkhitaryan Vanik (weightlifting) for violation under cl. 4.1 and cl. 4.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules.
The National Center for Sports Arbitration set aside the decision of RAA RUSADA Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee No. 104/2023 dated June 29, 2023, that made the Athlete ineligible for a period of 2 years, and rendered a decision that made the Athlete ineligible for a period of 4 years, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension and ineligibility.
Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered the decision that made athlete Ursaki Zinaida (powerlifting) ineligible for 4 years for violation under cl. 4.1 and cl. 4.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, starting on the date of the decision, namely on December 20, 2023, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from November 9, 2023.
Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered the decision that made athlete Pilyasova Ekaterina (bodybuilding) ineligible for 3 years for violation under cl. 4.3 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, starting on the date of the decision, namely on December 14, 2023, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from October 23, 2023.
Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered the decision that made athlete Dzobelov Khetag (rugby) ineligible for 3 years for violation under cl. 4.1 and cl. 4.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, starting on the date of the decision, namely on November 2, 2023, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from October 10, 2023.
Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee of RAA RUSADA rendered a decision that made athlete Molodtsov Dmitriy (weightlifting) ineligible for a period of 4 years for violation under cl. 2.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules approved by Order No. 307 of the Ministry of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy of the Russian Federation dated April 13, 2011, starting on the date of the decision, namely August 25, 2023, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from September 05, 2022.
Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered a decision that made athlete Albul Valeriya (muaythai) ineligible for 2 years for violation under cl. 4.1 and cl. 4.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, starting on the date of the decision, namely on October 23, 2023, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from September 07, 2023.
According to Article 20.5 of the World Anti-Doping Code (hereinafter Code), it is not within the authority of a national anti-doping organization, such as RUSADA, to amend national legislation (in this case, the laws of the Russian Federation). RUSADA is not a governmental body, does not have the right to issue any legislation and has no right of legislative initiative.
Article 23.2 of the Code states that "The Signatories shall implement applicable Code provisions through policies, statutes, rules or regulations according to their authority and within their relevant spheres of responsibility."
The Code is implemented in Russia through the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, which are enacted in accordance with the Federal Law "On Physical Culture and Sport in the Russian Federation" of December 4, 2007, No. 329-FZ.
RUSADA has taken extensive measures to reinstate the agency's compliance status within the framework of its functions and powers. To date, WADA has not received any complaints about RUSADA's work regarding the application of the CAS Award.
RUSADA is currently evaluating the documents received to determine whether a notice of disagreement with WADA's decision is required. The subject of compliance evaluation may be brought to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne in the event of notice.
RUSADA continues to carry out its functions without limitations and in strict accordance with international standards and regulations.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirms the following arrangements for the hearing in the arbitration procedures CAS 2023/A/9451 Association Russian AntiDoping Agency (RUSADA) v. Kamila Valieva, CAS 2023/A/9455 International Skating Union (ISU) v. Kamila Valieva, Association Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), and CAS 2023/A/9456 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) v. Association Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) & Kamila Valieva):
The hearing will take place on 26, 27 and 28 September 2023, with 29 September 2023 being a reserve day. It will be held at the CAS Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, although the Panel will hear some parties, witnesses and experts via video-conference, including Ms Kamila Valieva and the representatives of RUSADA.
The parties to the proceedings: RUSADA, the ISU, WADA and Ms Valieva (collectively, the parties), want privacy and have not requested that a public hearing be held. Consequently, the hearing will take place behind closed doors in accordance with the provisions of Article 57 of the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (the “CAS Code”), and outside persons will not be authorised to attend. For that reason, on 5 September 2023, the CAS Panel denied a request filed by the 2022 United States Olympic Figure Skating Team for an observer to be permitted to attend the hearing on their behalf.
The Panel of CAS arbitrators constituted to decide the matter is composed of:
President: Mr James Drake KC, Barrister, United Kingdom & Australia
Arbitrators: Mr Jeffrey Mishkin, Attorney-at-Law, USA
Dr Mathieu Maisonneuve, Professor of law, France
The ISU and WADA nominated Mr Jeffrey Mishkin, and Ms Valieva nominated Prof. Mathieu Maisonneuve. RUSADA being involved as Appellant in one procedure and as Respondent in the other two, it decided not to participate in the nomination process. The President of the Panel was appointed by the Deputy President of the Appeals Arbitration Division in accordance with the CAS Code.
The Panel and parties have established a detailed hearing timetable. The proceedings will open on Tuesday, 26 September 2023 with a short opening submission from each party, followed by the hearing of fact witnesses. On Wednesday, 27 September 2023, the Panel will hear expert witnesses and on Thursday, 28 September 2023, the Panel will hear the parties’ closing submissions and rebuttals. Should additional time be required, the Panel and parties have reserved Friday, 29 September 2023.
Following the hearing, the Panel will deliberate and prepare the Arbitral Award containing its decision. At this juncture, it is not possible to indicate when the final decision will be announced. The CAS Panel’s decision will be final and binding, with the exception of the parties’ right to file an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal within 30 days on limited procedural grounds.
The hearing concerns the appeals filed individually by RUSADA, the ISU, and WADA against the decision issued by the RUSADA Disciplinary Anti-Doping Commission (RUSADA DADC) dated 14 December 2022 (the Challenged Decision), in which the Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva (the Athlete) was found to have committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) for which she bore “no fault or negligence” and was not sanctioned with the exception of the disqualification of the results achieved on the date of the sample collection (25 December 2021).
RUSADA seeks a ruling from CAS setting aside the Challenged Decision and finding the Athlete to have committed an ADRV under the RUSADA Anti-Doping Rules (RUSADA ADR), and sanctioned with “the appropriate consequences (which may include or be limited to a reprimand) in respect of such ADRV pursuant to the RUSADA ADR”.
The ISU seeks a ruling from CAS sanctioning the Athlete with a four-year period of ineligibility or, subsidiarily, a two-year period of ineligibility, starting from 25 December 2021, as well as the disqualification of all results achieved by the Athlete during this period.
WADA seeks a ruling from CAS setting aside the Challenged Decision and finding the Athlete to have committed an ADRV under art. 4.1 and/or 4.2 of the RUSADA ADR, and sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of four years, as well as the disqualification of all competitive results obtained by the Athlete from and including 25 December 2021.
Ms Valieva seeks a ruling from CAS that it lacks jurisdiction over WADA, ISU and RUSADA claims, subsidiarily that no violation of the RUSADA ADR is proven and that she be re-established in the results obtained at the 2021 Russian Figure Skating Championship. In the alternative, she seeks a ruling that she bears no fault or negligence or, more subsidiarily, that the violation of the rules was not intentional, so that the period of ineligibility shall be at most two years and that no results shall be disqualified
In accordance with Article R52(5) of the CAS Code, the three appeals were consolidated and a common timetable was established for the filing of the parties’ written submissions. The exchange of written submissions, which was lengthened by extensions of time granted with the mutual agreement of the parties, has concluded.
Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered the decision that made athlete Danilov Sergey (bodybuilding) ineligible for 4 years for violation under cl. 4.3 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules. The period of ineligibility is commencing on the date of the decision, namely on July 24, 2023, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from April 26, 2023.
Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered the decision that made athlete Yatsunenko Aleksandr (American football) ineligible for 5 years for violation under cl. 4.1, cl. 4.2 and cl. 4.5 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules. The period of ineligibility is commencing on the date of the decision, namely on July 24, 2023, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from May 31, 2023.
The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) President, Witold Bańka, Director General, Olivier Niggli, and other members of WADA Leadership met with the Sports Minister of the Russian Federation, Oleg Matytsin, and other members of his delegation in Istanbul, Turkey. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the requirements that must be fulfilled by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and the Russian authorities for RUSADA to be reinstated as compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code (Code), when the two-year period of consequences prescribed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in December 2020 expires.
The National Center for Sports Arbitration rendered a decision against athlete Mkhitaryan David (weightlifting) for violation under cl. 4.1 and cl. 4.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules.
The National Center for Sports Arbitration set aside the decision of RAA RUSADA Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee No. 105/2023 dated June 29, 2023, that made the Athlete ineligible for a period of 2 years, and rendered a decision that made the Athlete ineligible for a period of 4 years, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension and ineligibility.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has published the Arbitral Award rendered by the CAS Panel in the appeal arbitration procedures CAS 2023/A/9451 Association Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) v. Kamila Valieva, CAS 2023/A/9455 International Skating Union (ISU) v. Kamila Valieva, Association Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), and CAS 2023/A/9456 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) v. Association Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) & Kamila Valieva).
Following the notification of the Panel’s decision on 29 January 2024, the publication of the unredacted Arbitral Award (131 pages) marks the conclusion of the procedures before the CAS, which started in February 2023, one year after the Winter Olympic Games Beijing 2022, when RUSADA, the ISU and WADA filed their appeals.
The CAS Panel found Ms Valieva (the Athlete) to have committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) due to the presence of Trimetazidine (TMZ) in the sample collected from her on 25 December 2021 during the Russian National Championships in St Petersburg, and sanctioned her with a four-year period of ineligibility starting on 25 December 2021. In addition, all competitive results from 25 December 2021 were disqualified. TMZ is a Prohibited Substance belonging to the S.4 hormone and metabolic modulators class; its use in sport is banned at all times as it could potentially help the heart to function better
The CAS award shows that, in her submissions, the Athlete asserted that the prohibited substance entered her body through the consumption of contaminated food shortly before the Russian Championships, i.e. through the consumption of a strawberry dessert prepared by her grandfather on the chopping board where he used to crush his medication (pills) containing TMZ. The CAS Panel determined that this explanation was not corroborated by any concrete evidence and that the Athlete was not able to establish that she had not committed the ADRV intentionally.
From this basis, and according to the relevant rules, the status of “Protected Person”, that the Athlete could enjoy before the CAS ad hoc Division at the time of the Olympic Winter Games 2022, because of her young age and on the basis of the limited evidence which was available at the very beginning of the case, was no longer applicable in her situation. Indeed, the CAS Panel determined that since the Athlete failed to establish that she did not commit ADRV intentionally, and since the “No Significant Fault or Negligence” criterion was not met, there was, consequently, no basis under the rules to treat the Athlete any differently from an adult athlete.
The CAS Panel was not requested to examine the consequences linked to the retroactive disqualification of the Athlete from past events, including from the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
Chronology of the case:
Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered the decision that made athlete Kurbanov Nikita (basketball) ineligible for 3 months for violation under cl. 4.1 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, starting on the date of the decision, namely on January 10, 2024, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from October 20, 2023.
The National Center for Sports Arbitration rendered a decision against athlete Karamasheva Svetlana (athletics) for violation under cl. 4.1 and cl. 4.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules.
The National Center for Sports Arbitration upheld the decision of Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee of RUSADA (DADC) No. 34/2023 dated February 9, 2023, that made the Athlete ineligible for a period of 8 years from the date of the DADC decision, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension from June 17, 2021.
Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered a decision that made athlete Sudakov Sergey (american football) ineligible for 6 years for violation under cl. 4.1 and cl. 4.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, starting on the date of the decision, namely on October 31, 2023, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from May 31, 2023.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS, Lausanne, Switzerland) partially set aside the decision rendered by the Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee of RAA RUSADA № 102/2022 dated June 23, 2022 on the sanction in a form of reprimand to the athlete Guschina Mariya (cross-country skiing) for violation under cl. 2.2 of the All-Russian anti-doping rules approved by Order of the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation No. 947 dated August 09, 2016 (with amendments effective from January 17, 2019).
The Court of Arbitration for Sport rendered the decision which made the Athlete ineligible for a period of 12 months from the date of CAS decision, namely October 27, 2023.
The National Center for Sports Arbitration rendered a decision against Makshantsev Oleg (bodybuilding) for violation under cl. 4.5 and cl. 4.9 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules.
The National Center for Sports Arbitration set aside the decision of RAA RUSADA Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee No. 67/2022 dated October 14, 2021, and rendered a decision that made Makshantsev Oleg ineligible for a period of 4 years for violation under cl. 4.5 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, with credit for the served period of ineligibility from October 14, 2021.
On September 15, 2023 the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Lausanne, Switzerland) set aside the decision rendered by the World Triathlon on September 12, 2022 which made the athlete Riasova Valentina ineligible for a period of 6 months for the violation under art. 2.1 and art. 2.2 of the World Triathlon Anti-Doping Rules.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeal of RUSADA and rendered the decision which made the Athlete ineligible for a period of 2 years, namely between September 15, 2023 and March 14, 2025, with credit for the served period of ineligibility, namely between September 12, 2022 and March 11, 2023.
Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee of RAA RUSADA rendered the decision that made coach Ermakova Evgeniya (swimming) ineligible for 4 years for violation under cl. 4.8 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, the period commencing on June 01, 2023.
Commission on preliminary consideration of anti-doping rules violations of RAA RUSADA rendered the decision that made athlete Smirnov Andrey (rugby) ineligible for 5 years for violation under cl. 4.1 and cl. 4.2 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules. The period of ineligibility is commencing on the date of the decision, namely on July 31, 2023, with credit for the served period of provisional suspension, namely from July 6, 2023.
Russian Bodybuilding Federation, following the decision by Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee RAA RUSADA, rendered the decision that made coach Bykov Sergey ineligible for 8 years for violation of art. 2.6, art. 2.7, art. 2.8 and art. 2.9 of the All-Russian Anti-Doping Rules, the period commencing on March 25, 2021.
Speaking on the announcement, UKAD Chief Executive Nicole Sapstead said, “Whilst we welcome the decision today to uphold WADA’s historic ban on Russia, we are frustrated that the ban has been reduced to two-years by Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
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