The Court of Arbitration for Sport is expected to announce Monday afternoon Beijing time whether Valieva can compete in the women’s figure skating event that starts Tuesday, where she would be a heavy favorite.
But they won’t decide now whether Valieva is guilty of doping, nor whether the Russian skaters can keep the gold team medal they won with Valieva’s help. Those questions will be answered by a separate investigation led by the Russian anti-doping agency.
Valieva is the strong favorite for gold if CAS lets her compete in the individual competition despite a positive doping test from before the Olympics. It was only revealed last week after she competed in the team competition.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams says it wanted all legal issues “settled once and for all before this competition starts.”
Adams says the parties – which include the IOC, World Anti-Doping Agency and the Russian team – could not agree on a process.
Adams says “it’s a deeply concerning situation for us and of course for all athletes” affected.
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France broke their own ice dance world record to win the Olympic gold medal that narrowly eluded them four years ago in Pyeongchang.
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