Unknown legal issue delays figure skating team awards ceremony

BEIJING — The ceremony to award medals in the the team figure skating event has been delayed by a legal issue.

The Russian Olympic Committee won the gold medal, with the United States taking silver and Japan bronze.

The ceremony was originally supposed to be held Monday night, but with warmups for the men’s short program extremely early on Tuesday morning, it was moved back a day.

The unknown legal issue has forced another postponement. The International Skating Union is involved in consultation.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at the Wednesday daily briefing that the situation arose at short notice and is “emerging.”

“You can bet your bottom dollar that we are doing everything and everyone is doing absolutely everything that the situation can be resolved as soon as possible because we have athletes and athletes that have won medals involved,” Adams said. “We will be doing our level utmost to make sure it is resolved as quickly as possible. But legal issues can sometimes drag on.”

Canada, which placed fourth, would move up if a medal-winning team is disqualified. However, the issue wold likely go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport before any medals are reallocated.

The Russian Olympic Committee was led by 15-year-old phenom Kamila Valieva, who landed the first quadruple jumps by a woman in Olympic competition. According to Reuters, pairs skaters Anastasia Mishina and Alessandro Galliamov and Mark Kondratiuk did not appear at their practice sessions on Wednesday.

Competition resumes Thursday with the men’s free skate, which will be the first individual event to conclude.