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Posted: 2022-02-14 05:12:31
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) held an hours-long hearing Sunday to decide whether the breakout Olympic star will be allowed to compete in the short program of the women's singles competition on Tuesday.

A decision is expected Monday around 2 p.m. in Beijing.

Valieva, 15, has been at the center of controversy after it emerged that she tested positive in December for a banned drug known as trimetazidine, which is commonly used to treat people with the heart condition angina.

As a minor, Valieva is not the only person of interest in the case. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) told CNN on Sunday the agency will investigate Valieva's entourage.

"When a minor is involved, there is a requirement in the World Anti-Doping Code to investigate the entourage," WADA said in a statement. "RUSADA (Russian Anti-Doping Agency) already indicated it had started that. We will ask our independent Intelligence and Investigations Dept to look into it as well."

The skater was already able to compete in the Games because the failed test only came to light after she helped the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) win gold in the figure skating team event on Monday, February 7.

Timeline of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's failed drug test
The scandal continues to delay the awarding of medals to all three teams, including silver for Team USA and bronze for Team Japan.

The CAS ruling will only determine whether the figure skater can compete in Beijing, leaving the issue of her gold medal to be decided at a later date, International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson Mark Adams told reporters Monday.

"[The medals] will not be sorted out by this decision. That will probably not be sorted out during this Games," Adams told reporters.

Addressing Valieva's future, Adams said that the case against her will continue after CAS's ruling on whether to let the 15-year-old compete in the short program of the women's singles event on Tuesday.

"If CAS decides to let Kamila Valieva start tomorrow, it does not mean on the one hand that she has not committed the doping offense and at the same time, if CAS decides to not let her start, it does not mean that the doping offense has been confirmed. What we will have in either case will be a decision where there's an ongoing procedure against her, of which we do not know the final result," he explained.

Valieva returned the positive test during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in Saint Petersburg on December 25.

But the results weren't reported by a Swedish laboratory until February 8 -- one day after the ROC team won gold in the event in Beijing, according to the International Testing Agency (ITA).

Valieva was immediately given a provisional suspension by RUSADA, which automatically prohibits athletes from participating in all sports.

The figure skater challenged the suspension on February 9 and, at a hearing that same day, RUSADA lifted the provisional ban -- allowing her to continue competing at the Olympics, according to the ITA.

The ITA -- on behalf of the IOC, WADA and the International Skating Union (ISU) -- said on Friday they would be appealing the RUSADA decision to lift Valieva's provisional suspension.

Responding to the controversy, the ROC said Valieva had "repeatedly passed doping tests" while already in Beijing, adding that it is taking measures to keep Valieva's "honestly won" gold.

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"The doping test of an athlete who tested positive does not apply to the period of the Olympic Games. At the same time, the athlete repeatedly passed doping tests before and after December 25, 2021, including while already in Beijing during the figure skating tournament. All the results are negative," the ROC statement said.

Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday there was a "misunderstanding" over Valieva's positive test as he offered full support to the figure skater.

Despite the controversy, Valieva was named on the draw for Tuesday's single skating short program.

Valieva plans to skate to the music "In Memoriam" by Kirill Richter and attempt a triple axel as well as a triple flip in her program. Last week, she became the first woman to land a quadruple axel at the Olympics -- leaving fans clamoring for more.

Russia is already under restrictions for system violations of anti-doping rules. A 2019 WADA decision that banned Russia from participating in international sporting competitions is set to expire later this year. Until then, individual Russian athletes are allowed to compete as neutrals under the ROC acronym.

CNN's Selina Wang, Wayne Sterling, George Ramsay, Duarte Mendonca and Uliana Pavlova contributed reporting.

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