FILE PHOTO: 2022 Beijing Olympics - Figure Skating - Women Single Skating - Free Skating - Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing, China - February 17, 2022. Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee falls during her performance. REUTERS/Phil Noble
(Reuters) - The International Skating Union Congress on Tuesday voted to gradually raise the minimum competition age for senior figure skating competitions from 15 to 17.
The decision, voted on at the ISU Congress in Phuket, Thailand, comes after Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance while at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, when she was 15.
Valieva's case prompted questions over whether the minimum age for competitors in figure skating needed to be raised to protect minors.
"The ISU Congress voted in favour of gradually increasing the age limit from 15 to 17 years for the sake of protecting the physical and mental health, and emotional well-being of skaters," the ISU wrote on Twitter.
"There will be no change for the season 2022/23, an increase to 16 years for the season 2023/24 and an increase to 17 years for the season 2024/25 and subsequent seasons."
The decision was not unanimous, with 100 countries voting in favour and 16 against. A two thirds majority, 79 votes, was required for the motion to be passed.
Valieva, who turned 16 in April, had failed a doping test at the Russian national championships last December but the result was only revealed on Feb. 8, a day after she had helped the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) win the team event at the Beijing Games.
She was cleared to compete in the women's singles event in Beijing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but stumbled to fourth place with an error-laden free skate.
"The life of an athlete is short and intense, their experience in this short phase sets the platform for the rest of their lives -- physically, spiritually emotionally," Canadian skater and ISU Athletes Commission member Eric Radford said.
"While I hear the concerns of certain nations about the immediate difficulty that they might face with this proposal being passed ... is a medal really worth the life of a young athlete?"
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Ed Osmond)
