Day 10 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

South Korea's Kim Yuna celebrates winning the gold medal in women's singles figure skating during the medal ceremony at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

South Korean figure skating icon Kim Yuna spoke out against the ongoing Kamila Valieva doping controversy in an Instagram post on Monday, saying an “athlete who violates doping cannot compete in the game (sic).”

The 2010 women’s singles gold medalist went on to say, “This principle must be observed without exception. All players’ efforts and dreams are equally precious.”

The Instagram post is the latest reaction against the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) decision on Monday to allow Valieva to compete for the remainder of Beijing 2022, despite testing positive for a prohibited substance in December ahead of the Games.

In a statement, CAS said it had decided Valieva, 15, should be allowed to compete due to “exceptional circumstances,” including specific provisions linked to her status as a “protected person” under the WADA code, because she is a minor.

The head of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Travis Tygart said Russia has “hijacked the competition” and “stolen the moment from clean athletes” for the “sixth consecutive Olympic Games.”

While Tygart acknowledged the that decision should be respected, he said that it was “a rushed one.”

“Only time will tell if [Valieva] should be competing in these Games and whether or not all of her results will be disqualified,” he said.

However, if it is found that Valieva should not have competed, Tygart said that the verdict will “reveal what a farce the handling of the Russia state-sponsored doping system by the IOC has been over the last eight years.”

“If Russia had followed the rules, we would know for certain the outcome of the Figure Skating Team Event and those athletes who gave it their all could have their podium moment during these Games as they rightfully deserve with the world in celebration with them.”

Read more about the reaction to the Valieva decision here.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport's Director General, Matthieu Reeb, attends a press conference to announce CAS' ruling on 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva, after she tested positive for a banned substance in December, at the Main Media Centre in Beijing on February 14.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday he hoped Kamila Valieva along with the other members of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) figure skating team would receive their gold medals “soon” after Valieva was cleared to continue competing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The medal ceremony for the figure skating team event was due to take place last week but was postponed after a positive drug test — now known to be that of Valieva — that was returned by a member of the ROC figure skating team.

Remember: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced earlier Monday that it would “not be appropriate” for the medal ceremony to take place at the Beijing Games until Valieva’s case had concluded.

Valieva is now scheduled to take part in the women’s individual competition which begins on Tuesday. She has no plans to withdraw from the event, Russian state news agency TASS reported Monday.

When asked specifically about the IOC’s decision not to hold a medal ceremony should Valieva finish in the top three of the competition, Peskov said: “Let’s not interfere the work with our comments.”

“We are talking about the serious work of both lawyers and representatives of our Russian Olympic Committee, WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), RUSADA and so on. The work continues,” he added.

Peskov also stated that he hoped Russia would be able to compete at the next Olympics as “a normal full-fledged national participation regime.”

“We believe that Russia is fulfilling all obligations. We perform without a flag, an anthem,” said Peskov. “Russia has always been a very responsible member of the Olympic family and remains fully committed to the ideas of Olympism.”

Russian athletes are unable to compete at a third consecutive Olympics under their country’s name, flag and national anthem due to sanctions from the IOC and WADA as a result of the country’s “systemic manipulation” of anti-doping rules during the 2014 Sochi Games.

William C. Flaherty of Team Puerto Rico skis during the men's giant slalom on February 13.

For 17-year-old William Flaherty, yesterday’s men’s giant slalom was the culmination of eight years’ work.

And although he finished more than half a minute behind gold medal winner Marco Odermatt, it was a moment of triumph for Flaherty.

When he was three years old, Flaherty was diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare disease in which the immune system attacks the patient’s organs.

Doctors gave him a 10% chance of survival at the time but a bone marrow donation from brother Matt — a Winter Olympian in PyeongChang in 2018 — helped him pull through.

Even after that, the Olympian representing Puerto Rico has continued to be plagued with health issues, and even competed in Beijing with a benign tumor in his jaw.

Due to his medical complications, he does not predict he’ll be competing in Cortina, Italy, in 2026.

Flaherty is still scheduled to compete in the men’s slalom event on Friday. And his experience in China has given him “hope for the future of the world.”

“The Olympics is such a cool, special place. It shows that despite everyone’s differences in language, religion, political ideals, people can and are capable of uniting under the name of sport and anything else that they’ve got in common,” he said.

"I am behind you, I always find you. I am the tiger."

This snowsuit is grrrrrrrrrr-eat!

France’s Lucile Lefevre decided to dress up for Monday’s snowboard big air qualification after suffering an injury to her knee in the slopestyle event which hampered her ability to complete tricks.

Instead, she chose to make her “very last competition” a bit more colorful.

“I feel good about it because the world should be fun. There are a lot of problems in the world. If everyone was peace and easy, the world would be better for sure, that’s the message I want to share,” Lefevre told reporters.

She finished 29th in qualifying, but she still earned her stripes. It is the Year of the Tiger after all.

The ROC's Kamila Valieva attends a training session on February 14.

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva won’t feature in any medal ceremonies at Beijing 2022, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Earlier on Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decided to clear Valieva to compete at the Beijing Games following an hours-long hearing on Sunday.

CAS said in a statement it had decided Valieva, 15, should be allowed to compete due to “exceptional circumstances,” including specific provisions linked to her status as a “protected person” under the World Anti-Doping Code because she is a minor.

But despite helping the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to gold in the team event, a medal ceremony for the event did not take place and the IOC said it would “not be appropriate” for it to go ahead until a full investigation has taken place.

The IOC also announced that if Valieva were to finish in the top three in the individual event — which takes place on Tuesday — no flower ceremony or medal ceremony would take place.

In the statement, the IOC said it will organize “dignified medal ceremonies once the case of Ms Valieva has been concluded.”

Yang Yang (L) leading Korea's Ko Hyun-Gi during the women's 1,000m short track speed skating finals at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City on February 23, 2002.

Diversity among competitors, including LGBTQ+ athletes, at the Beijing Games is welcomed, according to China’s first ever Winter Olympics gold medalist.

At the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, it was reported there were at least 186 athletes who identified as LGBTQ+.

However, it is reported that the Beijing Games will have a record number of out athletes for the Winter Games at 35 — yet, it looks like those Olympians may be performing in the shadow of growing challenges faced by sexual minorities and their supporters in China.

Homosexuality was removed from China’s official list of mental disorders in 2001, but the LGBTQ+ community in China continues to face official harassment and same-sex marriage remains illegal across the country.

Asked by CNN’s Angus Watson what measures were being taken to make sport a safe space for LGBTQ+ athletes, Yang Yang — who won five Olympic medals in speed skating — says China welcomes the “representation of different groups of people.”

“Under Chinese law, we protect the rights of all groups of people,” Yang, who is also the head of the Beijing 2022 Athletes’ Commission, told reporters.

“Of course, it’s case by case decision. At our Athletes’ Commission, a lot of them are young athletes, and a lot of the athletes have experience four to five Olympic Games, so we very much protect and encourage diversity.”

In response to Watson’s question of whether China would welcome an openly gay athlete onto its team, Yang said: “If there should be any such specific cases, the Athletes’ Commission would be very happy to talk to these people from different groups and we absolutely support diversity. Thank you very much.”

Find out more about LGBTQ+ visibility at the Games here.

The flag of the Russian Olympic Committee flies during an award ceremony on Feb. 13.

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) says that it is “extremely important to conduct a full-fledged objective investigation” into the Kamila Valieva case.

In a statement on Monday, the ROC said it “continues to consistently defend the rights and interests of Russian athletes,” but that they were keen to “establish all the circumstances of the situation” surrounding Valieva’s positive doping test.

Earlier Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decided to clear Valieva to compete at the Beijing Games following an hours-long hearing on Sunday.

CAS said in a statement it had decided Valieva, 15, should be allowed to compete due to “exceptional circumstances,” including specific provisions linked to her status as a “protected person” under the World Anti-Doping Code because she is a minor.

Abby Roque walks to the ice prior to a game against Switzerland on February 6.

When Abby Roque began falling in love with ice hockey as a child, playing with her dad and her friends, it was all about developing a passion for the game.

However, when she started competing at college, she realized that she looked different to most of her teammates.

“Growing up as an Indigenous person, it wasn’t really that rare to see other hockey players playing who had Indigenous roots,” Roque told CNN before the Games.

“And then I got to college and that’s when it really clicked for me that you’re different from the rest of the people.”

Roque admits she’s had an “unconventional journey” to get to where she is: from playing on her backyard ice rink to representing the United States at the Olympics.

But as a trailblazing Indigenous player, she wants to have an impact on future players to come.

“I want to diversify hockey as a sport because it really is a very White sport, and we want to change that,” she said.

“Making the sport more diverse is just trying to make it more accessible first of all. But also gaining more visibility that you can make it. I think looking at this roster as a young kid, you didn’t see anybody who wasn’t a White hockey player.

“For me, that goes a long way. Seeing someone like you doing it, being at the top of the game and knowing that you can make it that far and that hockey can include you.

“If one little girl says: ‘I want to play hockey because she’s playing hockey,’ that would mean the world to me.”

Roque and her Team USA teammates take to the ice to face Finland in their ice hockey semifinal at Beijing 2022 at 8.10 a.m. ET.

For more on Roque’s journey, watch below:

293b657b-8a73-4d22-a7ab-ff32a7cef70c.mp4

3:27 • Source: CNN

293b657b-8a73-4d22-a7ab-ff32a7cef70c.mp4

3:27

Athletes from Hungary, the ROC, Canada and Kazakhstan skate during the men's 500m short track speed skating event on February 13.

Making its debut in the Olympic program at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France, short track speed skating dates back to 1905, when athletes in Canada and the United States would compete on oval tracks.

However, the scarcity of 400m long tracks in each country meant that a number of North American skaters chose to practice on ice rinks instead — and thus a new form of the sport was born.

One of three skating events at the Winter Olympics, short track speed skating requires tight turns, strategic positioning and high speeds. Athletes compete on an ice track and field without lanes, so they are prone to both crashes and injury. 

The competition at Beijing 2022 will feature nine events: men’s and women’s 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m — as well as the men’s 5,000m team relay and the women’s 3,000m team relay, alongside the new mixed team relay competition. There are nine gold medals up for grabs in total.

Short track speed skating is scheduled to take place until February 16.

File photo of the World Anti-Doping Agency headquarters in Montreal.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has said it is “disappointed” at the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) decision to clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva to compete at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

CAS announced its decision following an hours-long hearing on Sunday, saying in a statement it had decided Valieva, 15, should be allowed to compete due to “exceptional circumstances,” including specific provisions linked to her status as a “protected person” under the World Anti-Doping Code because she is a minor.

Having initially appealing the case to CAS alongside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Skating Union (ISU), WADA reacted to the news Valieva would be able to continue competing in Beijing.

“While WADA has not received the reasoned award, it appears that 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.

“Concerning the analysis of the athlete’s sample, WADA always expects Anti-Doping Organizations to liaise with the laboratories in order to ensure they expedite the analysis of samples so that the results are received prior to athletes traveling to or competing in a major event, such as the Olympic or Paralympic Games and, where applicable, conduct results management of the cases related to such athletes.

“According to information received by WADA, the sample in this case was not flagged by RUSADA as being a priority sample when it was received by the anti-doping laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden. This meant the laboratory did not know to fast-track the analysis of this sample.

“As previously announced, under the terms of the Code, when a minor is involved in an anti-doping case, there is a requirement to investigate that athlete’s support personnel. RUSADA has already indicated it has begun that process. In addition, WADA’s independent Intelligence and Investigations Department will look into it.”

Meanwhile, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) called the situation “extremely unfortunate and sad for the athletes.”

Canada finished fourth in the team event which the Russian Olympic Committee team won and which Valieva was a part of.

“The COC is fully committed to clean sport and we firmly believe that no one involved in doping or other corrupt practices has a place in the Olympic Movement,” Tricia Smith, President of the COC, said in a statement. 

Smith added: “While the COC was not permitted to be formally involved in the CAS appeal process, we have been following the details of the case closely and doing what we can to ensure the protection of the interests of Canadian figure skating athletes and all clean athletes. While we trust that the CAS decision was the result of a fair process, we are extremely disappointed with this result.”