Russian Olympic figure skating champion Kamila Valiyeva tested positive for the heart drug trimetazidine ahead of the Beijing Winter Games. This was announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) commissioned international test agency ITA on Friday morning. Whether the 15-year-old, who won gold in the team competition with the Russian team on Monday, is allowed to take part in the individual competition will be decided by the Cas Sports Court.
Valiyeva’s sample was taken on December 25 at the sidelines of the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, according to the ITA. The laboratory in Stockholm, accredited by the World Anti-Doping Association Wada, announced the positive result on Tuesday after an analysis – on the day of the Olympic team competition. The Russian team won this ahead of the USA and Japan. The award ceremony planned for Tuesday evening (local time) had been postponed.
The Russian anti-doping agency Rusada issued a temporary ban, but lifted it again on Wednesday after an objection by Valiyeva. The IOC is appealing this decision. “We have a 100% anti-doping policy and will of course follow doping cases to the end,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams.
The women’s individual competition, in which Valiyeva, who also trained in Beijing on Friday, is among the favourites, takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Therefore, a decision by the Cas Sports Court before February 15 is necessary, the ITA announced. The IOC therefore did not wait for Rusada to justify suspending the ban. “We want to expedite this as much as possible,” spokesman Adams said. The ITA acts before the CAS on behalf of the IOC. Rusada’s actual doping procedure in the Valiyeva case, which also includes the athlete’s right to request an opening of the B sample, will be continued “in due course,” the ITA statement said.
The decision on the outcome of the team competition, in which the German team took ninth place, could only be made by the World Figure Skating Association after the entire case had been completed, according to the statement by the International Test Agency. The ITA emphasized Valiyeva’s status as a “protected person” under the Wada Code. “It is very important for everyone involved, not least the 15-year-old athlete involved, that there is due process in place that everyone can have confidence in the decisions made,” said Adams.
The Russian team participates in Beijing under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), flag and national anthem are banned as at the Tokyo 2021 Summer Games. However, Russian athletes are not generally banned. They may participate as “neutral athletes” under certain conditions. Russia was banned from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi because of the massive doping scandal.