Kamila Valieva loses neutral athlete status for international competition

The International Skating Union (ISU) has revoked the neutral athlete status of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva and three other athletes. Following an individual assessment, the ISU determined that Valieva, Mark Kondratiuk, and the ice dance team of Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin no longer meet the requirements to compete as individual neutral athletes.

Under ISU regulations, athletes from Russia or Belarus are ineligible for neutral status if they serve in the armed forces, participate in military operations, or have publicly supported the conflict in Ukraine since February 2022. While the ISU did not provide specific reasons for these four individual cases, the decision follows a period where many Russian skaters were permitted to compete without national symbols.

The affected athletes, all of whom were participants in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, have the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within three weeks. Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyaryov has criticized the decision, stating the athletes were “unjustly deprived of the right to take part in international competitions.”