Nine US figure skaters are told they WILL receive Olympic gold medals – after Russian Kamila Valieva was handed four-year ban for doping at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing

Members of the U.S. Olympic figure skating team learned late Monday that they will receive gold medals after Russian skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified for doping from the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee received notice that the IOC would award the gold to the U.S. for the team competition, which was thrown into turmoil after Valieva’s positive test six weeks before the competition was unveiled.

The Associated Press has obtained a copy of an email sent by the IOC to the USOPC stating that it is “now able to award the medals in accordance with the rankings to be determined by the International Skating Union.” – the federation responsible for organizing the event at the Olympic Games.

The USOPC confirmed that CEO Sarah Hirshland had received news that the Americans had been declared the winners.

The IOC said it has “great sympathy for the athletes who have had to wait two years for the final results of their competition.” The IOC will contact the relevant (national Olympic committees) to organize a dignified Olympic medal ceremony.’

The news that Valieva tested positive for a banned substance in 2021 appeared when she was 15

It is still uncertain what impact Valieva’s disqualification will have on the silver and bronze medals. Japan finished third and will likely move up to second place. Depending on how a scoring rule is interpreted, Russia could still finish third – ahead of Canada – even after deducting Valieva’s points from the two events she competed in during the team event.

The Americans receiving the gold medals are Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou.

It’s been a long two years for everyone involved. Last summer, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum marked the 500-day milestone since the Olympics by displaying the empty boxes the skaters received that would have contained medals that had not been distributed in Beijing.

Over the weekend, Chock and Bates won their fifth US title and were asked about the upcoming decision.

“I think two years is too long to make this decision, and we may never know why it took so long,” Bates said. “We’re just looking forward to getting some closure after a long wait.”

Coach Eteri Tutberidze, second from left, talks to Valieva at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing

There was no immediate word on where a medal ceremony might take place. The USOPC said it was working to find an appropriate time and place to award its skaters the gold. The World Speed ​​Skating Championships are in Montreal in March.

Valieva will end up empty-handed. The ruling earlier in the day by the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned the Russian for four years, dating back to December 25, 2021 – the date of the positive test. Due to the sanction, Valieva’s results expire after that date; it will end about two months before the next Winter Games in Italy.

Russian authorities criticized the ruling.

‘We obviously do not agree with this. From my point of view, of course, it has been politicized,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The IOC decided not to hold a medal ceremony in Beijing, where Valieva, then 15, was the star, just hours before her positive test for a banned heart drug was revealed.

The case caused legal chaos, in part because her sample was collected six weeks earlier during the Russian Championships but was not reported as a positive test until February 7, 2022.

It was a great day for Chock (right), Bates (left) and seven other members of the US team

Multiple appeals and hearings followed, which have been going on for almost two years since the Olympics. A Russian sports tribunal had cleared Valieva of any guilt because she was a minor. The CAS has accepted appeals from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which asked the court to disqualify Valieva from the Olympics and ban her.

The judges ruled that Valieva could not receive leniency under Russian anti-doping rules because she was a minor at the time of the positive test.

There was “no basis under the rules to treat them differently from an adult athlete,” said the court, which did not publish its detailed judgment pending an investigation into confidentiality issues.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the International Skating Federation banned Russians from international competitions. Valieva, who turns 18 in April, has skated on an extensive Russian national circuit and competed in TV events and ice shows. But she was defeated twice by younger Russians from the training group of her coach, Eteri Tutberidze.