Russian teen Kamila Valieva allowed to skate again at Beijing Olympics

BEIJING: Teen sensation Kamila Valieva has been cleared for takeoff in women’s figure skating in a ruling in a Russian doping case that has caused havoc with one of the marquee events of the Beijing Olympics.

Valieva will have a chance for a second gold medal at this year’s Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Monday she can compete this week despite failing a previous drug test.

The 15-year-old Valieva already set Beijing abuzz when she landed the first quadruple jumps by a woman at the Olympics during her thrilling performance that helped the Russians win the gold medal in the team event. She is the favourite in the women’s individual competition that starts on Tuesday with the short program and concludes Thursday with the free skate.

Valieva has been practicing regularly since the doping scandal broke and skated in her allotted practice time slot shortly after CAS released its ruling. The ruling came less than 12 hours after a hastily arranged hearing that lasted into early Monday morning. CAS decided that she does not need to be provisionally suspended ahead of a full investigation. She tested positive for a banned heart drug on Dec 25.

The court gave her a favourable decision in part because she was a minor, a protected person and was subject to different rules from an adult athlete.

Now, Valieva and her fellow Russian skaters can aim for the first podium sweep of women’s figure skating in Olympic history.

The ruling doesn’t decide the fate of the gold medal she won as part of the team competition. The United States won silver and would be in line for gold if the Russian medal is revoked.

The International Olympic Committee said there will be no medal ceremony if Valieva places in the top three in the women’s individual event.

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said the committee is disappointed by the message the ruling sends.

“Athletes are being denied the right to know they’re competing on a level playing field and that its part of a systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia,” she said.

In Monday’s sports action, Californian-born Eileen Gu, the face of the Games after winning freestyle skiing gold for China last week, held her nerve to qualify for the slopestyle final.

The 18-year-old was down in 11th place after a mediocre first run, and with only the top 12 going through to Tuesday’s final, the pressure was on.

Gu duly delivered to finish in third place.

French figure skaters Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron won Olympic gold in ice dancing, breaking their own world record again in the process.

Papadakis, who suffered a problem with her costume that cost the pair the gold medal four years ago, said: “I think we don’t believe it yet. Honestly it feels completely unreal. We have been waiting for this.”

Canadian-born Kaillie Humphries won the inaugural monobob event — and dedicated it to her adopted USA after switching allegiance amid claims she was mentally and verbally abused.

“This will always hold a special place in my heart, my first for the USA,” said Humphries, the first woman to win Olympic bobsleigh medals for two nations.

Xu Mengtao, a daredevil nicknamed Tao Tao, landed a jump with three somersaults to become the first woman from China to win the gold medal in ski aerials. She leaned back and screamed into the air as the temperature hovered around minus-10 degrees F.

Austria clinched the gold medal in the ski jumping team event when Manuel Fettner soared 128 metres on his final jump. Fettner, Stefan Kraft, Daniel Huber and Jan Hoerl combined to score 942.7 points.