Russia’s Olympic doping case helps China skirt dicey topics

By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer

BEIJING (AP) — The doping scandal around Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has been a Games-changer at the Beijing Olympics. It has pushed aside sensitive topics that Chinese officials hope to avoid answering at daily news briefings. The entire focus is on 15-year-old Valieva and this will continue through her long program this week where she is expected to win gold — her second of the Games — but be banned from receiving her medal after failing a pre-Games doping test. Questions have largely about Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai and the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in northwestern China.