Why a Russian figure skater who tested positive for doping is still competing at the Olympics

The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to allow a Russian teenage figure skater to continue to compete at the Olympics — despite finding out this week she had failed a drugs test back in December — is not popular.

But the law, even sports law, is not designed to be popular, rather it is supposed to be just.

The decision does not even sit well with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Following Monday’s decision, the IOC has ordered that should the skater finish with a medal in the women’s singles this week no ceremony will be conducted in Beijing, but rather, a ‘dignified’ medal ceremony will be held sometime in the future.

The IOC has also instructed figure skating officials to allow an extra competitor into the draw of the event, as though the Russian competitor does not exist.

When she takes to the ice on Tuesday evening in Beijing for the women’s singles short program, she’ll be the equivalent of a cancelled person performing in front of a global television audience, a teenage sporting prodigy who has become the face of international sport’s latest drug scandal.

The 15-year-old is supposed to be a protected person under the World Anti-Doping code, given she is a minor. Yet she has been outed as the star of the show, helping the Russian Olympic team win gold a week ago.

Less than 24 hours later, on February 8, she was told by the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA that a doping sample she provided on December 25 had come back positive and she was being provisionally suspended.

The following day, on February 9, she appealed the suspension — as all athletes have the right to do if they believe they have grounds on which to fight a doping charge.

RUSADA’s disciplinary anti-doping committee upheld her appeal, clearing