(Reuters) – Skate Canada has decided to appeal the International Skating Union's (ISU) decision to award the Russian figure skating team a bronze medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics despite Kamila Valeeva's disqualification, the national skating union said on Friday.
The teenager, Valeeva, received a four-year doping ban in late January, effective December 2021, resulting in the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) being stripped of her gold medal in the team event after almost two years of competition.
It was thought Canada, which finished fourth in the event, would be promoted to bronze.
But the ISU said the ROC's overall score even after erasing Valeeva's marks was still one point better than the Canadians.
“Skate Canada believes it is critical to the integrity of competitive figure skating that rules and regulations are adhered to consistently and fairly,” Skate Canada said in a statement.
“While we respect the decisions made by the ISU, we disagree with their conclusion and believe the independent review will provide much-needed clarity to all affected parties.”
Following the ISU ruling, Skate Canada argued that the decision did not apply Rule 353, which states that “competitors who finish a competition and who initially ranked lower than the disqualified competitor will advance accordingly in their placement.”
In its long-awaited ruling, the Court of Arbitration for Sport found Valeeva guilty of an anti-doping rule violation that rocked the Beijing Olympics when news about it first emerged and frustrated competitors who have been waiting for their medals ever since.
ISU published the revised final points table in which the United States advanced to the gold medal with 65 points, Japan won the silver medal with 63 points, and Russia took the bronze with 54 points.
Canada, represented by Roman Sadowski, Madeleine Chisas, Christine Moore Towers, Michael Marinaro, Vanessa James, Eric Radford, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, scored 53 points.
(Reporting by Frank Bengo in Toronto; Additional reporting by Laurie Ewing in Manchester, England; Editing by Ken Ferris)
