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Olympics and Paralympics
Jaclyn Diaz, NPR and Tom Goldman, NPR

U.S. figure skaters won't get team medals before the Winter Olympics end

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Team USA's silver medalists pose during the flower ceremony of the figure skating team event last week. They had asked to have the medal ceremony before they leave Beijing.
Team USA's silver medalists pose during the flower ceremony of the figure skating team event last week. They had asked to have the medal ceremony before they leave Beijing.
Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images

Updated February 19, 2022 at 11:42 AM ET

BEIJING — The U.S. figure skating Olympians can't get the silver medals that they won for the team event in Beijing before the end of the Winter Games, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has decided.

The team's appeal to the governing body for sport to force the International Olympic Committee to award the medals was dismissed after a 2 1/2-hour meeting Saturday night.

The reason behind the CAS dismissal wasn't included in the organization's announcement.

The team medal ceremony was delayed after it came to light that figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned drug before the Olympics. By the time the information was made public, the 15-year-old had helped the team from the Russian Olympic Committee win gold.

The IOC decided the medals can't be awarded for the team event until other investigations into this matter are completed. That will be well after the Beijing Games end.

Earlier on Saturday, The Associated Press reported that Team USA attorney Paul Greene said in a letter to the IOC President Thomas Bach that the refusal to hold the medal ceremony flies in the face of the host city contract and the Olympic charter.

The team sought to get their silver medals before the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Games on Sunday.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.