IOC president Thomas Bach has reportedly offered to give U.S. figure skaters Olympic torches as a holdover gift while they await a final verdict on the figure skating team event standings.
The AP reported the offer by Bach to the U.S. Olympians, citing “two people familiar with the events.” The torches — which were used during the pre-Games torch relay — have already been given to team staff to be presented to the athletes, the AP report adds.
The United States team, headlined by men’s singles champion Nathan Chen, won the silver medal in the team event. But the medals have yet to be presented because of a doping case involving the Russian team — who won gold.
The uncertainty surrounds 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva, whose drug test at the Russian national competition in December returned a positive result for a banned heart medication on Feb. 8 — the day the team event medals were supposed to be awarded. Valieva was deemed eligible to compete in the women’s singles event by the court of arbitration of sport while her case continues to be investigated. Valieva leads the women’s competition after the short program and the IOC says it won’t award any medals on podiums featuring the Russian until an investigation is completed.
Valieva will compete in the free skate Thursday.
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