The Russian Olympic champion has demanded "serious foreign lawyers" to defend Valiyeva from the West's "reprisals"

Two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasiliev called Russia's loss in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case of figure skater Kamila Valiyeva, who was found guilty of doping, shameful. The former hockey player complained about the incompetence of the defense team and then accused the West of cracking down on Russian sports.

Vasilyev said this in an interview with the propaganda news agency TASS. The winner of the Sarajevo '84 and Calgary '88 Games demanded that "serious foreign lawyers" be involved in Valiyeva's defense, and then called the decision to suspend the skater for four years a nightmare.

"I think it's a shame. It's about the prestige of the country. Valiyeva is a kind of symbol of Russian sport, and it's a shame that we have treated this problem in a casual way. We should have put our heads together and engaged serious foreign lawyers. So this is not Valiyeva's loss, but the loss of Russian sports officials. As far as I know, the drug found in Valiyeva's possession has no effect on anything. So, it could be characterized as accidental use, because it had no effect on her performance. So what are you doing? You're doing away with Russian sports because of this girl, that's how I see it. They are so two-faced that it's a nightmare," Vasilyev said.

As a reminder, CAS found Valiyeva guilty of violating anti-doping rules. After that, the Russian national team was stripped of its gold medal in the team figure skating competition at the 2022 Olympics. Later, it became known that in court, the Russian Federation was unable to prove even the existence of Kamila's grandfather, who allegedly put the banned substances in the athlete's body.

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