International Olympic Committee member Denis Oswald has stated that the award ceremony for figure skaters was postponed because organisers want the medals to be given to the "right people", since they are waiting for the final decision on the Valieva case.
"We want to award medals to the 'right people'. Until the situation is clear on whether there was a doping violation, we will not award medals. At the moment, it is fair to every athlete that medals won't be awarded yet. We fully understand the situation with the national teams who finished second and third. But it is very difficult to give out medals in a situation where the results are not final. We had to find a balance between the interests of the athlete who is allowed to continue and the athletes who deserve the awards ceremony. But with the decision that we made, we are sure there will be no irreparable damage. A very special ceremony will be held when the final results are determined", Oswald said at a press conference.
According to Reuters, he also said that Valieva's defence at the CAS hearing was a mix-up with her grandfather's medication.
At the same time, the IOC member noted that Valieva's B-sample had not yet been examined in a lab. Despite the initial positive result, the proper award ceremony may only be held after the test results are clear.
According to the International Testing Agency, Valieva's probe, conducted by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory in Stockholm on 25 December for the Russian national championships, contained a banned substance called trimetazidine.
The results of the probe, however, only came out on 8 February, after the athlete had won a gold medal in Beijing, becoming the first woman ever to perform a quadruple jump at the Olympics. Valieva was initially suspended from further participation in the Beijing Olympics, but the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) lifted the ban because the athlete's tests taken for the Olympics came back clean. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) also noted that the December test itself does not fall under IOC jurisdiction and is not relevant to the Olympics.
However, IOC, WADA, and the International Skating Union (ISU) appealed the decision, demanding that the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspend the teen from the games.
After several hearings, CAS ruled that Valieva will be allowed to compete at the Beijing Olympics, meaning she is able to take part in the individual event at the games.