By Rory Carroll
PARIS (Reuters) -Canada’s appeal to be awarded a team figure skating bronze medal from the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday, leaving the Russia Olympic Committee (ROC) team in third place.
At the Beijing Games, Russian teenager Kamila Valieva was found guilty of doping earlier in the season. She was banned for four years thus removing the ROC as winners of the team event.
It was thought that Canada, who finished fourth, would be promoted to bronze but the International Skating Union (ISU) said the Russian team’s total score even after Valieva’s marks were erased was still a point better than the Canadians.
A panel of arbitrators from CAS, sport’s highest court, deliberated on the appeal by Skate Canada last month and concluded Valieva was correctly disqualified without any possibility in ISU rules to re-allocate points to Canada.
The United States had previously been moved up to gold and Japan silver.
“While we are disappointed that the ruling does not award Canada the bronze medal, we stand by the efforts and performances of our athletes,” Skate Canada said in a statement.
“We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the gold and silver medalists, the United States and Japan,” it added.
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said it too was disappointed with the decision and believed the points should have been reallocated following Valieva’s doping sanction.
“It is unfortunate that the CAS did not agree,” the COC said. “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.”
The International Olympic Committee signaled that it would not challenge the ruling.
“The IOC has taken note of the CAS ruling and will respect the decision,” the IOC said.
The IOC has already planned a medal ceremony for Wednesday in Paris where the U.S. team will receive their gold medals.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Paris; Additional reporting by Steve Keating, Frank Pingue and Karolos Grohmann, Editing by Ken Ferris)
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