Russian skater Kamila Valieva could make history on Monday at 15 – as the youngest star booted out of an Olympics.
The favourite for Tuesday’s figure skating event will learn her fate following a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in Beijing today.
Russia’s Olympic Committee insists her gold in the team event was won “honestly” and it will make a desperate plea to save Valieva – the first skater to land a quadruple jump in Games history.
But experts say Russia’s anti-doping agency, Rusada, failed to correctly apply the rules when it lifted her ban after a positive test for heart drug trimetazidine.
Calls grew yesterday for the team around her to be investigated. British 1980 figure skating Olympic champion Robin Cousins said: “I hope the people responsible are held accountable.
“In my heart, I cannot believe it has anything to do with a 15-year-old girl.”
In 1972, US swimmer Rick DeMont became the youngest athlete to be ejected from a Games, aged 16.
