Beijing: An unspecified legal issue has delayed the medal presentation in the figure skating team event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics with reports claiming a dope test on a Russian skater is at the heart of the entire controversy.
Russian sportspersons are banned from participating under their national flag by all major international organisations including because of the country’s murky doping history. Russian sportspersons are participating here under the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) banner.
The ROC team claimed the gold medal in the figure skating team event on February 7, while the United States took silver and Japan bronze. But the medal presentation ceremony, which was to be held on Wednesday night, had to be postponed because of a legal issue.
The matter is still under investigation, said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday.
“That’s complete speculation in a general point,” said IOC spokesperson Mark Adams. “The IOC delegated both testing management and sanctioning in doping cases to ITA and CAS to avoid even the appearance of the conflict of interest.”
“We ask for and hope for the patience and understanding of all the athletes involved here. But it is a legal case,” he added.
“Everyone is trying to work as quickly as they can for everyone involved.”
Influential Olympic sports website www.insidethegames.biz in an exclusive report claimed, that “a legal issue involving an anti-doping test t’ken by Russia’s 15-year-old sensation Kamila Valieva is the reason the medal ceremony for the team figure skating competition” is delayed.
Valieva’s performance was pivotal to the team’s success. She led the women’s singles standings in both the short program and the free skating.
Valieva performed the quadruple jump twice — a manoeuvre that has never before been successfully landed at the Winter Olympic Games, the report said.
“The exact nature of Valieva’s problem is unclear, although there have been widespread claims that the drug involved was not performance-enhancing.” the report claimed.
Some reports in Russia have claimed the drug involved is trimetazidine, a medicine usually used to prevent angina attacks and help blood flow to the heart, the website said.
The situation is complicated even further because, under the rules of the World Anti-Doping Code, Valieva is a “Protected Person”.
That means as “an athlete who at the time of the anti-doping rule violation: has not reached the age of sixteen” Valieva cannot officially be identified if she is guilty of an anti-doping violation.
If Valieva is sanctioned, then any penalties are likely to be much less severe than if she was over the age of 16 and the role her entourage played will come under close scrutiny.
Russian Figure Skating Federation spokesperson O’ga Yermolina told the country’s official state news agency TASS that the organisation is “waiting for information”.
“Perhaps it will be tomorrow morning,” Yermolina added.
IANS