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Sounds to me like it's out of IOC's hands at this point. They did what they could in appealing to the international court, and now they're just waiting on that.

So this is how I would summarize things: Kamila tested positive at Russian Nationals, under the authority of the Russian anti-doping agency (RUSADA), as skeptical as many of us probably are about their effectiveness. That test was not under WADA/IOC jurisdiction. RUSADA found out about the positive test from the lab (why it took this long, no idea), and gave her a provisional suspension, which would also be binding for IOC (I assume they honor suspensions given by individual countries' anti-doping agencies). RUSADA gave her a hearing, and lifted the suspension (for reasons not yet disclosed). The International Testing Agency is appealing their decision to lift the suspension to the international court of sports arbitration on IOC's behalf (basically, IOC probably wants her to stay suspended, but has to abide by the final word since the positive test wasn't one they/WADA administered). So that last appeal is what we're waiting on now, and no decisions about the team medals or the ladies individual can happen until things are decided about her suspension. I refuse to believe this. Yes, it likely happens on a greater level than we know, probably more in some sports than others. But I 100% believe there are plenty of athletes who truly believe in fair competition and are clean. Nobody "in the business" knows what thousands upon thousands of athletes are doing.

Yeah, last night I knew it wasn't Jason and in thinking it was another Team USA skater thought it was Evan, but after watching that behind the scenes video where we see him again taking a photo with Nathan, I think he must be Team USA staff of some sort. I wonder if it's not so much the ISU (or whoever) looking for loopholes, but people on the Russian side raising a stink and now all kinds of lawyers are involved holding things up. I don't know if they're communicating with the US/Japan/Canada federations at all, but they should be putting the heat on for sure.

I think that was actually Evan Bates. I thought it was Jason at first too, but now I'm fairly certain it was Evan (had to google photos of him). ETA: Though I could still be wrong, haha. There were definitely either pairs or dance teams around the arena (probably coming/going from the practice rink) during the final group though, as I saw a couple arriving at some point when they showed Nathan back stage.

Yeah, sounds like there is a lot of different issues here, including when the positive test was (if not during the competition), her age, etc. The IOC really shouldn't have been so spineless with Russia to begin with after 2014 (though I can't remember if other bodies came into play? it's been too long of a saga at this point). Some sports have certainly been more harsh than others in allowing those athletes to compete or not, but there was definitely never enough of a punishment on the Russian federation as a whole.

I honestly feel like there's a lot less of this than in past years. Yes, there are still a few stars that they talk about a lot, but literally any network would do that. I also don't mind a few fluff pieces. I like learning new things about some people, and to me it doesn't feel as intrusive as it has in the past. The primetime broadcast also only has a few hours, and it's never going to be personally tailored. They're going to do some human interest stories (though as I said above, I've felt like it's less than it has been). They're going to do some studio analysis. That doesn't mean every one of those segments is well done of course. But they have showed long stretches of some events (I know because a couple times it's been things I had watched earlier on USA and was able to skip forward like 40 minutes, which I appreciated). Though as others have noted this is a bit easier to do with winter compared to summer since there are fewer events. Some people will complain when they show too much of one sport at the expense of another, while others would feel the reverse. This is why they have the other cable channels and all the streaming options. If people don't have cable or don't want to get Peacock and only want to watch what's on the main NBC broadcast, that's totally their choice, but they're not going to get a lot of full events (especially long ones) and not a full mix of events. In the past there wasn't even a way to watch some events, now you can watch anything you want, you just might have to look elsewhere than NBC alone. Yes, it's these networks this time. In the summer they also used MSNBC I believe, and had NBC Sports Network (which is now dead). I'm guessing for winter with fewer events they felt like they didn't need to pull in MSNBC. I have Peacock for free with Xfinity, so I use that, but I think for nbcolympics.com it's either a separate subscription or can be tied to your cable subscription? Not really sure.

From the WADA text upthread, it sounds like that's solely about the punishment for the athlete going forward for a positive test, but does not address what happens to the medal itself. My guess would be a medal is still stripped, but the eligibility punishment could be less than an older athlete, but doesn't necessarily have to be solely a reprimand. Though I don't know for sure of course. Seems like it depends on how they judge that person's level of culpability.

He got 0 points because in the short program there are a few required elements, and one of them is a triple or quad solo jump. If you don't execute that requirement you get 0 points. In the free skate you get points for whatever you actually executed. So if you pop a jump in the free skate, you would get the points for a single jump. ETA: And I see other people already answered.

I'm wondering if there's the issue is a delay in their drug test results for some reason, not an actual positive test. I think maybe medalists are all tested after their event, and maybe they can't do the ceremony until results are back? I would be very surprised if somehow all of those who were missing from practice (if indeed that is true) tested positive, so I feel like it may just be a delay. Why, that would be, though, is suspicious, if it didn't impact the US or Japan teams as well.

I always feel like there are different kinds of artistry, and some people like some types and not others, which is totally fine. For example, I find Nathan very artistic; he just has his own style which some people don't prefer. I think men's definitely went through some growing pains, but there are plenty of skaters who have come out the other side of that. Women's may be going through it now for sure, though it's different as most of the skaters doing the quads currently come from the same place and the same coach. With Valieva, I find her short program very artistic and beautiful. Her free skate not so much, which may be partly the quad attempts but also I just think she was given a terrible program. I think she's capable of a lovely free skate with the quads, she just doesn't have the right vehicle right now. I think a lot of the issues in the women's are because most of the ladies doing quads come from the same group with the same people creating the programs, and they're just not that good at the packaging. Once more ladies start to be able to do them, and there is more diversity in style, choreography, coaching, etc., I think that will improve things greatly. I'm just not sure how long that's going to take. I personally would hate splitting the sport into different events, one for athletic skating or what have you and one for artistic. I probably wouldn't watch either one.

Plus they don't play it up via lovey dovey programs. Eh, Jason wouldn't have beaten Shoma and probably not Kondratiuk (and maybe not a couple others if he had a mistake), so it probably would have been a wash in points even if Nathan finished first in the freeskate (not a guarantee given how well Yuma skated).

I also need commentary. I watched some of the GP events without commentary and didn't really like it. I watch by myself, so I need someone to feel like I'm watching with, and who will tell me things. I also don't mind Johnny and Tara as much as others do (and I think Johnny especially can be quite good when he wants to). The scoring box inconsistency is weird. I think whatever the box is without the element must be from the ISU feed. The box on the NBC broadcast has the element. So maybe something NBC actually did right? My understanding about the world ranking is that it's very dependent on number of events. So skaters who competed in 4CC or European Championships have more chances to rack up points. But it is weird when you have clearly better skaters below those who were clearly worse. I agree with everyone who finds the Russian men's skater (Kondratiuk) messy. Not even just his jumps (which I'm not sure how he lands sometimes). But all of his other elements, too. It really comes across to me like he's racing through everything to get them done and get to the end. That combined with his fluttery shirt and his floppy hair just came across so sloppy.

Here's the figure skating topic in the Olympics forum, if people want to migrate there for Olympic skating talk!

I kept expecting them to find the missing pawls somewhere else and realize they had never been installed to begin with. Maybe that will happen later, as they do seem to carry over storylines.

I was super distracted by going from winter (or even just late winter) to summer in like a day. But other than that, I'm so glad this show is back! I saw Nathan Fillion's name in the credits at the beginning, and it took me until the very end of the episode to realize he was the voice of Harry's octopus-alien friend. Was he the voice in S1? Or is that new? Either way, it didn't seem like a one-time appearance, so I assume he'll be sticking around.

I'm fairly certain it's because that's the one event where China has a shot at a medal.

Well, that was a highly enjoyable episode. There were two moments that I replayed multiple times before continuing. The first was Sass and Thorfinn confirming the maid's hotness. No actual words spoken, but perfect in their subtlety. The second was everyone's reactions when Elias went down on us (lol). I rewatched at least 10 times, and focused on a different character's reaction each time. So great.

I was distracted that nobody was wearing headgear during boxing. Kind of took me out of those scenes.

I do think it's weird that literally not once has anyone mentioned a ghost who didn't appear in that episode. For some storylines, it's not really necessary. But for others, there are big things happening and it seems strange to not throw in a line about how [insert ghost] is really missing out. And yeah, this one in particular seemed weird in that regard (though I'll admit that I generally completely forget about Flower when she's not around).

Where is Malinin going to get the minimums if not at 4CC (which I know they won't send him to as 1st alternate)? Is there another event between Olympics and Worlds?

Yeah, it's not an Olympic trials, and they have fairly set criteria, Nationals just being one factor. I don't envy the selection committee, even with the criteria to hang their hats on. They got lucky in all the other disciplines that it was fairly clear-cut. But the way this Men's FS shook out, they were going to make someone upset no matter what they did. Nathan, Vincent, and Jason all made GPF. Ilia has very limited senior international experience, with poor results in his one event this season and good results in 2020 Skate America (which was basically a glorified Nationals due to COVID). Other than this Nationals, they really don't have much to go on for him outside of his juniors results, which I don't think really factor into their criteria much. In 2018, I felt they made the right decision in selecting Adam Rippon over Ross Miner, given Adam's body of work (he had medalled at both his GP events, and made the GPF), and felt Rippon justified his selection at the Olympics (Miner would certainly not have done as well). This selection feels a bit more difficult than that one, as Miner was nearing the end of his career with no noteworthy international success, and Ilia is just starting his. In any case, I'm glad I was not on that committee, both in terms of having to make the decision and in having to justify it, regardless of which way it went!

I read this as well, though don't remember where. I believe they said it would be like 50% longer. So around 65-70 minutes?

Wow, the men killed it! What a fantastic SP! Top 7 all over 88 points! I know, Nationals scoring and all, but still. That was some quality skating.

Well, that was a great ladies SP (I hope that doesn't mean a sloppy FS). I thoroughly enjoyed it, and loved seeming some fresh faces. With Bradie injured and Amber having a disastrous SP, to me the Olympic team will clearly be Mariah, Karen, and Alysa, regardless of where they finish (barring someone having a total meltdown, which seems unlikely).

As far as I know, Aurora Teagarden, Mystery 101, Chronicle Mysteries, and Crossword Mysteries are all still alive. Not sure if I'm missing any (maybe the Ruby Herring? not sure). Those are the better ones that were left IMO, so I'm not that upset about the ones that were cancelled (though I'm holding out hope for at least one more Martha's Vineyard). Plus the new one sounds like it could be good. And they've done more one-off mysteries recently (not sure if any of those were also "auditioning" to be a series).