The International Skating Union (ISU) has stripped Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva of her neutral athlete status, which had allowed her to compete in international events without official Russian symbols.
This was reported by Reuters, citing an informed source.
According to the agency’s source, Valieva received a letter from the ISU informing her of the decision to revoke her neutral status. The ISU and Valieva’s representatives have not yet commented on the decision.
It is noted that the decision was taken after an appeal by the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation. The Ukrainian side urged the ISU to tighten checks of the personal data of athletes applying for neutral status, and to continuously monitor their compliance with the established requirements.
In addition, the Ukrainian federation called for all applicants to be required to publicly condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Kamila Valieva trains at the figure skating school of Tatyana Navka, the wife of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
- In February 2022, Valieva was suspended from training and competition after a banned substance, trimetazidine, was found in her doping sample dated 25 December 2021.