Iain Axon and Angie Teo

BEIJING, (Reuters) – The Court of Arbitration for Sport has closed its hearing regarding Russian figure skater Kamila Vaieva. She tested positive for a banned substance and a decision will be made on Monday.

The 15-year-old prodigy, who became the first woman to land a quadruple jump https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/figure-skating-valieva-becomes-first-woman-land-quad-olympics-2022-02-07 at the Olympics en route to winning gold with the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in the team competition, tested positive for a banned heart drug on Dec. 25 but it took more than six weeks for the result to be made public.

Her fate at Beijing Games, and her team gold that the ROC won for the ROC are now uncertain amid a growing outcry regarding Moscow’s doping record.

Valieva will compete in Tuesday’s women’s single event. CAS had to decide whether she should continue to participate. The hearing lasted nearly six hours, and concluded at 2:10 a.m. local on Monday.

“The hearing was over, and it was quite long. “Now the panel will deliberate until tomorrow morning. It is the end of today,” Matthieu Reeb, Secretary General at CAS, told reporters.

“We expect to be able announce the final decision tomorrow around noon tomorrow. There should be an announcement that is either via press release or public broadcast tomorrow.

We still need to organize that, and there is much work ahead. Although I can’t comment at this hearing, I will try to make a decision in the next few hours.

Reeb refused to answer the question about Valieva’s evidence when he was asked.

CAS stated that Valieva, representatives from the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the International Skating Union, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, and the ROC attended the hearing via videoconference.

RUSADA lifted an automatic provisional suspension that was imposed following any positive tests on Wednesday, but WADA and the IOC appealed to CAS for reinstatement.

Initial plans were that the case would be handled by CAS’s six-member anti-doping unit. However, the court stated later that its legal disputes unit would take care of it.

WADA said that the agency would also ask the independent Intelligence and Investigations Department of the WADA to conduct an investigation regarding the coach, doctor and others who were around the athlete on Sunday.