Published: 11:00, November 2, 2024
Russia's Valieva plans to resume career after serving doping ban
By Reuters
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin (not in picture) with Russia's medal-winning athletes of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and members of the country's Paralympic team at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 26, 2022. (PHOTO / AFP)

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva plans to resume her competitive career after she serves out the four-year ban imposed for failing a drugs test.

Valieva, now 18, told Russian news agencies, that she wants to compete again as she will still be young enough to do so when her ban ends at the end of 2025.

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"Of course, I am thinking about this. It is not the end, My last appearance at the Russian championship was not my best. And it is probably stupid to abandon a sports career at my age," she was quoted as saying.

Valieva said she was "gradually coming into form".

READ MORE: Valieva blamed grandfather's dessert for positive test, CAS says

"I am trying at first to gain confidence about the elements I had last season -- a triple toe loop and double Axel. With greater confidence, I will bring in more difficult content as I won't be in competition for more or less a year and a half."

Russia's Kamila Valieva competes in the women's single skating free skating of the figure skating event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb 17, 2022. (PHOTO / AFP)

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) imposed a four-year ban on Valieva earlier this year, with the penalty backdated to when she tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, which prevents angina attacks, at the Russian national championships in December 2021.

That punishment meant the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) were stripped of the gold medal in the team event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games nearly two years after the competition.

READ MORE: Russia reacts strongly to four-year ban on Valieva for doping

Valieva's team has said the positive test could have been due to a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medication. The Kremlin dismissed the ruling as politically motivated.