Team USA skaters' appeal to be awarded Winter Olympic silver medals denied
Team USA were denied permission for a medal ceremony following the gold medal-winning team ROC's Kamila Valieva's drug controversy. The USA bagged a silver medal in the figure skating team event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and Japan settled for a bronze medal.
Earlier, nine American figure skaters, including Nathan Chen, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim, Brandon Frazier, Vincent Zhou, Zachary Donohue, Evan Bates and Karen Chen, urged the CAS to award them the medals that are yet to be presented.
The IOC made it clear that the athletes will not be awarded medals for any event which includes the 15-year-old's participation, even if the figure skater attained a podium finish.
Earlier this week, IOC President Thomas Bach, while addressing the skaters, offered them Olympic torches as a memento until the entire doping case is thoroughly investigated, even if the entire fiasco takes weeks or months time.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a statement after the panel hearing said:
"The decision of the IOC Executive Board of 14 February 2022 not to hold the medal ceremony for the figure skating team event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 stands."
However, CAS Director General Matthieu Reeb has said that the application was not filed by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, but by the nine members of the team.
CAS rules there will be no medal ceremony in the team figure skating event. US skaters wanted one, understandably. IOC didn’t; the last thing it wanted was the PR nightmare of ROC at the top of the podium. Ceremony will happen somehow after Valieva Russian doping investigation. https://t.co/PcIo06zMuG
Figure skater Kamila Valieva returns to her hometown
The 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva returned to Russia on Friday with other ROC athletes after finishing fourth in the women's individual event.
She finished first in the women’s short program earlier in the week. Unfortunately, it seemed like the drug saga affected her performance during the finals, where Valieva, who is otherwise a serene sight on the ice, fell several times during the performance.
Kamila Valieva is the GOAT
She had to fall, they made her do it...This is such a sad story. I can’t even imagine what she’s going through, so heartbreaking.
#kamilavalieva #OlympicGames #FigureSkating #Olympics2022 https://t.co/a2EyP7SY7L
The co-participants who traveled alongside her had something to say about Valieva, who had her entire world fall apart, carrying immense pressure on those young shoulders during the Winter Games.
Short track speed skater Konstantin Ivliev, who won a silver medal, said everyone on the plane tried to support her.
“We spoke kind words to her, because the situation is very hard. We hope that she moves forward and leaves this situation behind, no matter how hard it is.”
Also read: Doping-tainted figure skater Kamila Valieva had a calamitous 2022 Winter Olympics outing, IOC President Thomas Bach reacts