(NEW YORK) — In an event plagued by controversy, the women’s singles figure skating competition will wrap up Thursday with the free skate — and Russian skater Kamila Valieva will be last on the ice.
The first skaters are scheduled to take the ice at 5 a.m. Eastern time.
The International Testing Agency revealed last week that Valieva, 15, of the Russian Olympic Committee, the gold medal favorite, tested positive for a banned substance in a sample taken in December during the Russian Figure Skating Championships.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Monday that Valieva could compete, despite the news, saying it was because she was a minor and the full appeal process, including the testing of her B sample, had yet to take place.
The question of what will happen to the ROC’s gold in the team event — won with Valieva leading the way — will be determined by the International Skating Union once a full appeal of the test can be conducted, according to the International Testing Agency.
Valieva leads the competition with the highest score out of Tuesday’s short program, earning 82.16. In second place is Anna Shcherbakova of the ROC, scoring 80.20, followed by Kaori Sakamoto of Japan in third place, scoring 79.84.
The gold medal will be awarded to the skater who scores the highest total score, comprised of the combined scores for the short program and the free skate.
Should Valieva be on the podium, as is expected, the IOC said it will not hold a medal ceremony.
Valieva became the first female skater to land a quadruple jump at the Winter Olympics during the team event, and she did so twice. She’s expected to pack her program in Thursday’s free skate with multiple quads as well.
Russian athletes are competing under the name “Russian Olympic Committee” due to the ban against Russia participating in the games, put in place because of a systemic doping program from the 2014 Sochi Games.
This is the second Olympics in a row that Russia has competed under the ROC name. The country is banned from participating in all international sporting events due to the doping allegations.
Russian athletes who could prove they were clean and unconnected to the cover-up were allowed to compete.
Since women’s hockey was introduced at the Olympics in 1998, only the United States or Canada has come home with the gold.
Now, for the sixth time in seven Olympics, the U.S. women’s hockey team is facing Canada in a bid for Olympic gold.
The game is taking place Thursday in Beijing (11 p.m. ET Wednesday night) to see who will come out on top this time around. Canada owns four golds, while the U.S. has two.
The buildup to the final has been ferocious, with each team barreling through the competition. Canada went 6-0, giving up only eight goals while scoring an astounding 54.
The U.S., meanwhile, only lost one game throughout the tournament — to Canada, 4-2.
Team USA took a hit early on in the Olympics when star forward Brianna Decker got knocked out of play with an on-ice injury.
But, as demonstrated by their continued success, the team is still stacked with power, including from captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, Amanda Kessel, Abbey Roque and Hilary Knight, returning for her fourth Olympics. Knight, 32, leads the U.S. in scoring with five goals and four assists.
The goalie roster for the U.S. has also been showing their mettle this Olympics between Nicole Hensley, Alex Cavallini and Maddie Rooney. Four years ago in Pyeongchang, the gold medal match came down to goalies when it went to a shootout. Rooney saved Canada’s lost shot then, giving America the gold.
On the Canadian side, the Americans will square off with captain Marie-Philip Poulin, Claire Thompson and goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens. Canadian forward Brianne Jenner leads all goal scorers in the Olympics with nine, while teammate Sarah Fillier is second with eight goals. The top five assist leaders in the tournament are all on the Canadian team, led by overall scoring leader Sarah Nurse with 12.
The Olympics are the most high-profile venue for women’s hockey, which has faced struggles establishing more local groundwork. In the four years since the 2018 Olympics, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded and the National Women’s Hockey League rebranded to the Premier Hockey Federation. Athletes have long been calling for more funding and support both for a functional league with livable salaries and for building infrastructure for youth sport to grow a pipeline.
The U.S. women have at least one supporter who intimately understands those efforts: Billie Jean King voiced her support for Team USA to “win!” in a video posted by hockey veteran Angela Ruggiero on Wednesday.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Atlanta 124, Cleveland 116
Boston 135, Philadelphia 87
Dallas 107, Miami 99
Memphis 121, New Orleans 109
Minnesota 126, Charlotte 120 (OT)
Phoenix 103, LA Clippers 96
Milwaukee 128, Indiana 119
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Buffalo 6, NY Islanders 3
St. Louis 5, Ottawa 2
Tampa Bay 6, New Jersey 3
Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 4 (OT)
NY Rangers 2, Boston 1 (SO)
Washington 4, Nashville 1
Calgary 6, Columbus 2
Dallas 4, Colorado 1
Edmonton 5, Los Angeles 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Tennessee 76, Kentucky 63
Villanova 89, Providence 84
Duke 76, Wake Forest 74
Wisconsin 74, Indiana 69
Ohio St. 70, Minnesota 45
Penn St. 62, Michigan St. 58
Texas 80, Oklahoma 78
New Mexico 75, Wyoming 66
Arkansas 76, Missouri 57
(NEW YORK) — The ongoing dilemma in the Winter Games involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who is under investigation over alleged use of a banned heart medication, has athletes around the world calling foul.
And while the circumstances around Valieva’s situation stand out from other sports doping cases, given the skater’s age and Russia’s history around doping, athletes’ criticisms that there is a double standard have weight and should prompt changes, according to sports law experts.
“This is a bad look for the sport,” Mark Conrad, the director of the sports business program at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, told ABC News. “It’s worse for the number of athletes and teams who have been playing by the rules.”
Valieva helped the Russian Olympic Committee win the gold in the team skating event. However, on Friday it was revealed she tested positive for a banned drug in December ahead of the Russian Figure Skating Championships, according to the International Testing Agency.
Valieva claimed that her positive drug test was a result of a mix-up with her grandfather’s heart medication, Olympic officials said Tuesday.
It is not known why the test results took more than a month. The medaling ceremony for the team skating event has been indefinitely postponed, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Monday that Valieva, 15, could continue to take part in the Games.
The panel said there were several reasons behind its decision, including the skater’s age making her a “protected person” and “that preventing the athlete from competing at the Olympic Games would cause her irreparable harm.”
Valieva took the lead during the first part of the women’s short competition Tuesday.
The panel’s decision and reasoning did not sit well with other Olympians and Olympic hopefuls, including one who made headlines over the summer when she was forced to bow out of the Tokyo Games over a banned substance.
Track and field sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, who was not allowed to compete in the last Summer Games after she tested positive for marijuana after a qualifying match, questioned the decision on Valieva. Richardson, 21, admitted to using marijuana, which is legal in Oregon, her state of residence, to help cope with the death of her mother.
“Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines? My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3,” she tweeted Monday. “The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady.”
Richardson followed up with tweets contending that THC, which has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances since 2004, is not a performance-enhancing drug.
Conrad said that Richardson had every right to point out the discrepancy between her case and Valieva’s case, especially since the sprinter took full responsibility for using marijuana.
“On the surface, there is a double standard,” he said.
Gabe Feldman, the Sher Garner professor of law at Tulane University and director of the school’s sports law program, told ABC News that the panel’s decision is actually a “triple standard” since there is a well-documented history of doping among some Russian athletes.
Currently, Russian athletes are banned from competing in the Winter Olympics under their own country and flag and can only partake in games under the moniker “Russian Olympic Committee,” as part of a punishment for previously violating doping rules.
“If [the Valieva case] turns out to be more serious, it will be bad for the sport, because the system is designed to prevent athletes from competing,” Feldman told ABC News. “I think it will raise issues about the efficacy of enforcement.”
Richardson wasn’t alone in her dismay over the panel’s decision, as several Olympic skaters also took to social media to decry officials. South Korean figure skater Yuna Kim, who won gold in the 2010 Winter Olympics and the silver four years later, posted an image of a black square in an Instagram post Monday and said athletes who violate the doping should not be able to compete.
“This principle must be observed without exception. All players’ efforts and dreams are equally precious,” she wrote.
Former U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon also questioned the panel’s reasoning that banning Valieva would cause her irreparable harm. Rippon tweeted that harm would be done to the entire Olympic Games.
“I am so angry. The ladies’ event tomorrow is a complete joke. It’s not a real competition and it most likely won’t even have a medal ceremony. So many Olympic experiences stolen from clean athletes who got here without the help of performance-enhancing drugs. What a shame,” he tweeted Monday.
Rippon now coaches Mariah Bell, an American figure skater competing against Valieva. Bell finished in 11th after the short program.
Conrad said the investigation into the Russian skating team is still ongoing and quickly changing, and the consequences could be worse for Valieva if officials find any wrongdoing. While ROC athletes are still allowed to compete in the skating matches, they risk having their medals stripped, Conrad said.
“The arbitrators probably felt there was more to lose to ban her, rather than letting her compete and then later take the medals away,” he said. “It is a humiliating thing to lose a medal.”
Feldman said anti-doping agencies and watchdog groups have to continually play catch-up to the players, teams and Olympic committees that take part in doping, but those groups still need to focus on providing the fairest penalties for each violation.
While Feldman said the agencies take each case with due diligence, he argued they should use this situation to reassess their practices.
“At a minimum, what everyone wants to see is transparency and consistency,” he said.
The Olympic gold medalist shared a post Tuesday announcing her engagement to Jonathan Owens, who she has been dating since 2020.
Alongside four photos of the moment Owens proposed, Biles wrote: “WOKE UP A FIANCÉE I can’t wait to spend forever & ever with you, you’re everything I dreamed of and more! Let’s get married!”
WOKE UP A FIANCÉE 💍💍😭
I can’t wait to spend forever & ever with you, you’re everything I dreamed of and more! let’s get married! 🕊🤎@jjowens_3pic.twitter.com/BcrWvhEE38
On Instagram, she said the proposal from the Houston Texans safety was the “easiest yes” she’s made. In Owens’ post announcing their engagement, he said Biles “really had no clue what was coming.”
Biles publicly confirmed her relationship with Owens in 2020. In August 2021, she shared a post to celebrate that she and Owens had been dating for more than a year.
“So happy past 1 year to the best thing that’s ever happened to you: ME,” Biles wrote, with a laughing emoji.
In a recent interview with NET-A-PORTER’s digital title PORTER, Biles spoke about how she is prioritizing her personal life at the moment.
She told the outlet she was “making sure I have the proper time to spend with my family, my friends and my boyfriend.”
(BEIJING) — Kamila Valieva earned the highest score in the women’s figure skating singles event short program at the Olympics on Tuesday.
The 15-year-old, who represents the Russian Olympic Committee, scored a mark of 82.16, putting her in first place going into the free skate portion of the competition.
The winner of the women’s event will be determined after skaters compete in the free skate event on Thursday. The gold medal will be awarded to the skater with the highest total score (calculated as the sum of the two programs).
Anna Shcherbakova of the ROC is in second place with a score of 80.20 and Sakamoto Kaori of Japan is in third place with a score of 79.84.
Valieva stumbled on her first jump in what was her first time competing since it was revealed she tested positive for a banned substance in December ahead of the Russian Figure Skating Championships, according to the International Testing Agency.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled on Monday to allow Valieva to skate, despite the failed drug test.
During the figure skating team event, Valieva became the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Olympics.
Russian athletes at the Olympics are competing under the name “Russian Olympic Committee” due to an ongoing ban against Russia participating in the games due to its previous doping violations. This is the second Olympics in a row in which Russia has been banned.
Russia has been banned from all its international sporting events because of the doping allegations.
Russian athletes who could prove they were clean and unconnected to the cover-up are allowed to compete.
(BEIJING) — U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin on Tuesday came up empty handed in her fourth competition, placing 18th in the downhill skiing event, after wiping out in her first two races and finishing ninth in the super-G event.
Shiffrin was expected to be a downhill contender, although the event wasn’t her strongest. Her time of 1:34.36 placed her 2:49 behind Corinne Suter of Switzerland, who took gold with a time of 1:31.87. Italy brought home both the silver and bronze medals, with Sofia Goggia finishing in 1:32.03 and Nadia Delago finishing in 1:32.44.
“Racing DH tomorrow!” Shiffrin said on Twitter on Monday. “The track is spectacular and I have ‘overthought’ the crap out of it over the last couple days so it’s prob time to just point ‘em straight and get low.”
The six-time world champion is one medal away from tying the record for most Olympic medals by a female American Alpine skier — four. She is two gold medals away from holding the record for most golds ever by a female Alpine skier — also four.
She is expected to compete in the combined on Feb. 17. She also said on Thursday she may compete in the team event, which she had not planned to enter coming into the Games.
Shiffrin last week finished ninth in the super-G, with Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami winning gold, her second medal of the Games.
Two days earlier, Shiffrin had shockingly busted out of the competition just seconds into the first run of the slalom. Shiffrin missed the fourth gate in her run, the event where she won her first Olympic gold in 2014.
The skier, who was expected to challenge for several medals in Beijing, sat on the side of the hill, with her head in her hands, for 20 minutes after the stunning accident.
The 26-year-old also fell during her first run in the giant slalom last Monday, disqualifying her from the event.
“Could blame it on a lot of things…and we’ll analyze it till the cows come home, but not today,” Shiffrin said on Instagram following that crash. “Today I chalk it up to really awful timing of a really frustrating mistake. Moving focus to slalom now, AND cheering for my teammates in the second run of the GS and the DH!”
Sweden’s Sara Hector took the gold in the giant slalom with a time of 1:55:68, followed by Italy’s Federica Brignone with a time of 1:55.97 and Gut-Behrami with a time of 1:56:41.
Shiffrin, a Colorado native, has been competing since she was 16 and quickly became one of the sport’s all-time greatest skiers with her record-setting performances. She is the most decorated Alpine skier in the world circuit having won 11 World Championship medals, six of them gold.
At 18 years old she became the youngest slalom champion when she won a gold medal in the 2014 Sochi Games. Shiffrin won a gold medal in the giant slalom competition and a silver medal in the combined competition during the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Washington 103, Detroit 94
Brooklyn 109, Sacramento 85
Oklahoma City 127, New York 123 (OT)
New Orleans 120, Toronto 90
Portland 122, Milwaukee 107
Chicago 120, San Antonio 109
Utah 135, Houston 101
Denver 121, Orlando 111
L.A. Clippers 119, Golden State 104
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Minnesota 7, Detroit 4
Chicago 3, Winnipeg 1
Toronto 6, Seattle 2
Edmonton 3, San Jose 0
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
(6)Kansas 76, Oklahoma St. 62
(INGLEWOOD, Calif.) — The Los Angeles Rams delivered a Hollywood Super Bowl ending Sunday, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in front of a star-studded home crowd at SoFi Stadium.
Watch game highlights from ABC’s Good Morning America:
LA Rams’ two-time All-Pro offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth talks Super Bowl LVI victory:
(INGLEWOOD, Calif.) — The wife of the Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Van Jefferson left SoFi on a stretcher Sunday after going into labor during the Super Bowl LVI, a team spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The news came hours after Samira Jefferson posted an Instagram Story from an interview with The Atlantic, during which she said she hoped her water wouldn’t break during the game.
The NFL star confirmed the birth of his and Samira’s second child on Instagram late Sunday. On his Story, he posted a photo of himself holding the newborn while in bed. He wrote, “x2!!!!!”
The Jeffersons are also parents to 5-year-old daughter Bella.
The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23 to 20 Sunday.
ABC News’ Kaylee Hartung contributed to this report.
