INTERNATIONAL: Sport's highest court on Monday cleared 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva to compete in her next Olympic event, but the teenager's doping charge that has rocked the Beijing Games remained unresolved.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said in a statement that it had upheld an earlier decision by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to lift a ban on Valieva.
The skating prodigy took to the Beijing ice half an hour after the CAS ruling, executing a flawless run-through of the short programme she will skate in Tuesday's women's singles.
CAS cited the fact that Valieva was a "protected person" under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules as one of the "exceptional circumstances" underpinning its decision.
Preventing Valieva from competing at the Olympics would have caused the teenager irreparable harm, CAS said in its ruling.
The figure skater is one of the youngest athletes to face a doping charge during an Olympics, prompting global outrage at the role of the adults around her, and the continuing scourge of Russian doping in international sports.
The CAS ruling did not address the merits of Valieva's drug case. That now sits in the hands of WADA, which has not given a timeline for adjudicating her case. Many fears it will not be resolved by the end of the Games.
WADA was "disappointed" with the ruling, which it said was not in accordance with its code.
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said: "Only time will tell if she (Valieva) should be competing in these Games and whether or not all of her results will be disqualified".
"It appears the CAS panel decided not to apply the terms of the code, which does not allow for specific exceptions to be made in relation to mandatory provisional suspensions for 'protected persons', including minors," said a WADA statement.
Earlier, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said the awarding of medals for the team event cannot go ahead until the doping case is addressed.
It is not clear whether other members of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team can receive gold medals. The second-placed U.S. and Japan in third are also waiting in the wings. Canada finished fourth.
"That will probably not be sorted out during this Games and that is something regrettable, but we have to follow the process," Adams said.
Valieva tested positive for the banned heart medication Trimetazidine on Dec. 25 at the Russian National Championships, but the result was not revealed until Feb. 8 after she had competed in the team event at the Winter Games.
The Russian dazzled the world with the first quad jumps ever completed in the women's Olympic competition.
"Such late notification was not her fault, in the middle of the Olympic Winter Games," the ruling said.
Tygart said it was another case of Russia not following the rules.
Twice U.S. Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir was one of several athletes who took to social media to disagree with the decision to let Valieva's Games go on.
American former Olympic champion Tara Lipinski posted on Twitter: "At the end of the day, there was a positive test and there is no question in my mind that she should not be allowed to compete.
"Regardless of age or timing of the test/results. I believe this will leave a permanent scar on our sport."
