Weekly Combine Newsletter: As the Winter Olympics come to an end

Whilst the Winter Olympics are coming to a close over the weekend, the fallout from the Kamila Valieva scandal, despite her 4th place finish, continues to gather momentum and the legal process will likely not see a resolution for many months.

Another incident of note from Games this week involved an unusual dispute where an athlete's snowboarding logo caused her to withdraw from one of her events. Leading that athlete, Julie Marino, the U.S. silver medalist earlier in the games, and athlete advocacy groups to slam the IOC for appearing to put commercial considerations ahead of athlete safety.

The cause of the dispute was Marino's snowboard featuring the logo of a non-Olympic Games sponsor, which led to that product selling out online. However, after it featured in the first event the IOC said the logo was not permitted because it was not a "legitimate sports brand" or, in fact, was not an official Olympic Games sponsor. This no doubt caused the IOC to believe this was a case of ambush marketing and against their commercial interests. Marino was told to tape up the logo on her board, affecting its integrity and safety. With the IOC not backing down, Marino decided to withdraw from her second event instead, citing those concerns.

You can read more about legal issues from the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl below and more details of the Valieva decision from the just released CAS award next week.

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