Russia on Monday welcomed the announcement that its figure skater Kamila Valieva has been cleared to continue competing in the Beijing Olym-pics despite failing a doping test.
“Tomorrow the whole country will support her and all our wonderful female skaters in the indi-viduals competition,” Russia’s Olympic Committee said on Telegram, calling it the “best news of the day”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was “happy” that the 15-year-old will compete in the individual skating event on Tuesday, where she is a favourite to win gold.
“The whole country hopes Kamila will win,” Peskov told reporters. Earlier Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said that the teenage athlete could continue competing at the Games despite testing positive in December for a banned substance. The International Olympics Committee, how-ever, said there will be no medal ceremony for the women’s singles competition if Valieva finishes in the top three.
There will also be no ceremony for the team event, won by Russia last week with Valieva play-ing a starring role and landing a historic quad jump.—AFP
