With cameras focused on her every move, Kamila Valieva, the Russian teenager at the center of an Olympic doping scandal, will skate Tuesday in the women’s singles event at the Beijing Games.
Valieva, 15, dazzled in the team event, when she was nearly flawless in the short program. But just over a week later, after it was revealed that she had tested positive for a banned drug, her mere presence at the Games was thrown into doubt.
Citing potential “irreparable harm” of a young skater, a panel of arbitrators ruled that she could compete in women’s singles, where she is a prohibitive favorite.