Figure skating bodies will vote on raising their competition age limits, AFP reported on Friday, citing the International Skating Union (ISU), following the events surrounding Russian teenage skater Kamila Valieva.

A champion favorite, Valieva left the ice in tears on Thursday after an error-ridden performance and eventually finished fourth in free skate.  

The 15-year-old skater has been grilled for the past 10 days after a doping row overshadowed her trip to the Winter Games.  

After appeal and reappeal, Valieva was allowed to compete in the individual event this week despite failing a drug test dating back to December, 2021.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) pointed to "exceptional circumstances" regarding her age and the timing of the test result and said it would do Valieva "irreparable harm" if she were not allowed to compete.

But many have argued against the CAS's decision. 

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said CAS has "rewritten" the code to say a mandatory suspension was now optional in the case of "protected persons."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had also stated that there would not be a medal ceremony if Valieva finished on the podium.

Read more:

CAS rules Valieva can compete in Olympics after doping test row

Questions around the influence her entourage may have had on the teenager, as well as her public breakdown on Thursday have led to calls to raise the competition age from its current minimum of 15.

In an email sent to the AFP, the ISU said it could "confirm that the ISU Council has already decided to include a proposal to increase the competitors' age limit to 17 across all ISU Figure Skating disciplines."

The ISU said that it did not normally comment on its agenda ahead of publication, but "the current situation and various media reports" had led it to do so. 

The suggested change would need a two-thirds majority to pass. The congress will take place from June 6-10 in Phuket, Thailand.

IOC President Thomas Bach said on Friday it had been "chilling" to witness Valieva crumble under pressure at the Beijing Olympics as the doping scandal continued to swirl.

"To see her struggling on the ice, to see her, how she tries to compose herself again, how then she tries to finish her programme and you could see in every movement, in the body language, you could feel that this is immense, immense mental stress and maybe she would have preferred to just leave the ice and try to leave this story behind her," Bach said. 

Valieva's coach Eteri Tutberidze confronting the skate after Thursday's performance has also caused public sympathy towards the teenager. 

"Why did you let it go? Explain it to me, why? Why did you stop fighting completely? Somewhere after the axel you let it go," Tutberidze was heard asking Valieva after the show. 

"When I afterwards saw how she was received by her close entourage ... it was chilling to see this," said Bach. "Rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her you could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance and if you were interpreting the body language of them, it got even worse because this was even some kind of dismissive gestures."

Bach admitted that the IOC, while it was addressing the matter, could not do much to control the group of people around any athlete.

WADA has previously said it was launching an investigation into Valieva's entourage in her doping case.

Responding to the question around Bach's comments, the Kremlin said on Friday that it did not agree with such assessment. 

"Thomas Bach is a very authoritative person in the sports world. Of course we respect his opinion but we do not necessarily agree with him," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call later on Friday.

"He doesn't like the harshness of our coaches but everybody knows that the harshness of a coach in high-level sport is key for their athletes to achieve victories. And we are seeing that the athletes are achieving victories. So let's be proud of our winners, congratulate our medallists. Valieva was fourth but in high-level sport, the strongest wins," Peskov said.

(With input from agencies)