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GENEVA -- Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified from the 2022 Olympics on Monday, almost two years after the teenager's doping case caused turmoil at the Beijing Games, clearing the way for the United States to get the gold medal in the team event.
The verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport means the Russians are set to be stripped of the Olympic title. The American skaters are expected to soon be named Olympic champions after finishing second in Beijing.
The International Olympic Committee decided against having a trophy ceremony in Beijing, where the then-15-year-old Valieva was the star performer hours before her positive test for a banned heart medicine was revealed.
The case provoked legal chaos at the Beijing Olympics because Valieva's sample, taken six weeks earlier at the Russian championships, was not notified as a positive test until Feb. 7, 2022, by a laboratory in Sweden which had staffing issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CAS upheld appeals led by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which asked the court to disqualify Valieva from the Olympics and ban her. A Russian sports tribunal had cleared her of any blame, citing that she was a minor.
The court banned her for four years, until Dec. 25, 2025 -- about seven weeks before the next Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
The IOC, which did not immediately comment on Monday, is responsible for reallocating medals and its executive board is next scheduled to meet in March. The Russians easily won the team event but will drop in the standings without Valieva's points. Behind the U.S., Japan took bronze and Canada placed fourth.
"We now anticipate the day when we can wholeheartedly celebrate these athletes, along with their peers from around the world," the U.S. Olympic body's CEO, Sarah Hirshland, said in a statement Monday.
The likely new Olympic champions are Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou.
The International Skating Union said it welcomed the ruling and would comment Tuesday on the consequences. Those include amending results of the two Olympic competitions Valieva took part in.