Russian figure skaters to get Beijing Winter Olympics bronze medals ahead of Canada despite Valieva disqualification

The United States is the new Olympic champion and Japan gets upgraded to silver from bronze but the demoted Russians get bronze by a single point ahead of fourth-placed Canada.

Russia’s Kamila Valieva in the women’s figure skating event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games | Photo Credit: AFP

Despite the disqualification of Kamila Valieva in a doping case, her Russia figure skating team will still get bronze medals from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the sport’s governing body said on Tuesday.

The United States is the new Olympic champion and Japan gets upgraded to silver from bronze but the demoted Russians get bronze by a single point ahead of fourth-placed Canada.

The International Skating Union published an amended points table from the competition in Beijing that stripped Valieva’s maximum 10 points from each of her two events but did not add a point to the other teams below her.

Canada still gets eight points out of 10 from the women’s short program and free skate sections, where Japan finished second each time to Valieva.

Canada’s overall points total remained 53 and the Russians’ tally dropped from 74 to 54 — enough for the bronze medals which Valieva will not get.

“The ISU is in close contact with the International Olympic Committee and the relevant ISU member federations in regard to the implementation of this decision,” the governing body said.

The Canadian skate federation likely can challenge the ISU decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

A CAS judging panel on Monday disqualified Valieva from all of her events since December 2021 and banned her for four years in a doping case that took almost two years to resolve.