British-based lawyer James Drake has been appointed head of the Panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that will decide later this month whether Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva violated anti-doping rules and should be disqualified from last year's Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, it was announced today.
The King's Counsel will be joined on the CAS Panel of arbitrators by American Jeffrey Mishkin, who was nominated by the International Skating Union (ISU) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and Mathieu Maisonneuve, who was chosen by Valieva.
The behind-doors hearing is due take place in Lausanne on September 26, 27 and 28 with an extra day allotted for September 29.
Valieva will not travel to the Swiss city to attend the hearing and will instead give evidence via video, CAS revealed.
In January, an independent Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSDA) Disciplinary Committee ruled that Valieva had tested positive for the stimulant trimetazidine through "no fault or negligence" of hers and disqualified the results at the Russian Championships on December 25 2021, the date of sample collection.
WADA, RUSADA and the ISU appealed against the decision and are seeking further sanctions.
WADA wants a four-year ban for Valieva, including disqualification of her results at Beijing 2022.
This would deny the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team of the figure skating gold at the Winter Olympics.
Valieva, however, is seeking a ruling from CAS that it lacks jurisdiction over WADA, ISU and RUSADA claims and that she did not commit a doping offence and should be reinstated in the results of the Russian Championships.
In the alternative, she is seeking a ruling that she bears no fault or negligence or that the violation of the rules was not intentional, so that the period of ineligibility shall be at most two years and that no results shall be disqualified.
At Beijing 2022, Valieva was only 15 and helped the neutral Russian team to gold with flawless execution.
She was the favorite for the singles title prior to being at the centre of a doping scandal.
The medals were not awarded for the team event and Valieva displayed an error-strewn performance in the free skate and slipped to fifth.
Second-placed United States, third-placed Japan and fourth-placed Canada are all in line for upgrades in the team event depending on the CAS decision.
Drake, an Australian by birth is now based in London. Drake has been involved in various high-profile CAS cases in the past, several involving Russia.
These included a CAS appeal in 2021 by many athletes banned as a result of WADA evidence uncovered during the investigation into Russian state-sponsored doping and a challenge against World Athletics' decision to suspend the Authorized Neutral Athlete scheme before the re-arranged 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Russia lost on both occasions.
He was also chair of the CAS panel that heard a case by US sprinter Christian Coleman before Tokyo 2020 against a ban imposed for a series of whereabouts failures.
Drake's Panel reduced his length of suspension to a year but he still missed the Olympics.
Mishkin is the former chief legal officer for the National Basketball Association before becoming the head of sports practice at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Maisonneuve, meanwhile, is professor of law at Aix Marseille University and a member of the French Olympic Committee Sport Arbitration Chamber.
Among the arguments that Valieva is expected to present is that the banned drug could have entered her system after she drunk from a glass her grandfather had taken prescribed medication from.
"An urgent fact was needed as to how this could have gotten into her body at all. It was clear: the ingress was accidental," Philipp Shvetsky, doctor of Russia’s figure skating team at Beijing 2022, told the country’s official state news agency TASS in July.
"We talked with the Institute of Pharmacology - for the complete elimination of this dosage it takes from 24 to 72 hours, no more.
"Therefore - yes, this is the first thing, what could have come to our minds."
According to CAS, the proceedings are due to start on September 26 with a short opening submission from each party, followed by the hearing of fact witnesses.
The following day, the Panel will hear expert witnesses and on September 28 will hear the parties’ closing submissions and rebuttals.
Should additional time be required, the Panel and parties have reserved September 29.
As The Blade Turns - Kamila Valieva's Defense and CAS Counterclaim (Oksana Baiul Interview)
Камила Валиева
Оксана Баюл