The Winter Olympic Virus, Day 13

• Getting to the back end of all this...
• Valentyna Kaminska of the Ukraine is the second failed doping test other than the Russian figure skaters of these Games.

Medal Count entering Day 13:

• Norway tops the table with 13 golds, Germany has 10, USA 8, the hosts 7.  (With the understanding that the current stated results of the team figure-skating competition are now as provisional as tonight's women's finals.)
• Total:  Norway 28, Illegal Russian Team 24, Germany 20.  (Same caveat.)
• The ROC is throwing a fit.  Duh. 
• If you want to know why Valieva has been allowed to skate, it's only the longest lines and biggest tickets of the entire Games.

More news:

• A spokesperson for Beijing 2022 blasted the world media and claimed Taiwan was already part of mainland China, a flashpoint for years between the Chinese Communist Party and the rest of the world.
• Martin Fourcade and the President of the world cycling federation, the UCI, David Lappartient, have been elected to the International Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission.
• To what should've been no one's surprise at the end of the women's hockey tournament, Canada beat the USA 3-2.  Canada was clearly the best team in the tournament.
• VALIEVA FALLS!  The other two Russians, and by a wide margin, win gold and silver in the women's figure skating.  Anna Shcherbakova wins the gold medal, Alexandra Trusova wins silver, Kaori Sakomoto of Japan wins bronze -- and by the caveats the IOC put into the competition, those results SHOULD, barring more Russian doping coming out, stand now.  Valieva finishes fourth.  Cue the Russian trolls.   
• Valieva blew the triple axel and the quad toe loop, and STILL, with two blown elements, had the fifth highest free skate score.  The other two Russians were 20 points better than the rest of the field.  I think you can figure out why.   
• The reported mood inside the arena is shock and silence -- and it is already being referred to by Inside the Games reporters as a controversial and infamous moment in the history of the Winter Games.  Look out, we may be JUST getting started!  If I'm the Inside the Games staff, I get out of Beijing NOW, closing-IOC Session notwithstanding. 

Medal Count coming out of Day 13:

• Norway adds another, now has 14 to lead the gold medal table.  Germany 10.  USA 8.  Sweden joins China with 7.
• Total:  Norway 29, Illegal Russian Team 26, Germany 22, USA 21, Canada 20.
• 21 nations have won gold medals at these Games.
• The medal table now contains 28 nations.
• Of the 109 events in the Games, only 17 now remain.