Valieva's Attorneys Accuse Wada Of 'procedural Fraud,' Ask Court To Revisit Her Doping Case

Attorneys for Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva are taking her doping case back to court, arguing the World Anti-Doping Agency withheld and altered evidence that could have proven her contamination claim during the hearing that resulted in her four-year suspension.

The experiment conducted by scientist Martial Saugy at the request of Russia's anti-doping agency through its channels at WADA was kept secret until The Associated Press revealed details of it last September, along with WADA's concerns about it.

"We have a big issue," WADA's director general wrote to its general counsel after learning of the experiment. "How come we have Saugy doing an opinion for Valieva, super-favorable to her?"

Details of Saugy's experiment about how Valieva could have been contaminated by drinking a strawberry smoothie her grandfather made never showed up during a five-day-long hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2023 at which WADA and others had been asked to produce all material related to the skater's positive test.

After reading the AP story about the experiment, Valieva's attorneys filed an appeal with the Swiss Supreme Court - considered the last, and usually futile, attempt to appeal CAS decisions - asking for details of the experiment to be released.