Russian skater Kamila Valieva, who won the team event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics at the age of 15 with her country, has had a positive doping test before the start of the Winter Olympics, the Russian press reported on Wednesday. According to the newspaper Kommersant, the postponement of the medal ceremony initially scheduled for Tuesday in Beijing would be linked to a positive doping control concerning Kamila Valieva, which could deprive Russia of the title, which participates in the Olympic Games under a neutral flag for a resounding scandal. doping during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
The Russian daily specifies that the substance identified would be trimetazidine, used to relieve angina pectoris and banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2014. According to the RBC daily, another Russian media, the control was carried out in December.
Valieva also favorite in individual
International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams said Thursday in Beijing during the daily press briefing of the Olympic body that he had “no comment to make” on “a situation that has all sorts of implications” and called reports that it was a doping case “total speculation”. “I imagine that all the people (in charge) work as quickly as possible. We are aware that for the athletes (affected by the medal ceremony), they want to achieve a quick outcome,” he said.
The International Skating Federation (ISU) for its part recalled in a press release that it “could not reveal information relating to a possible violation of anti-doping regulations”. Valieva, favorite of the individual event which begins on February 15, is the new sensation of figure skating. Since her arrival on the senior circuit in 2021, the teenager, trained by the famous and severe Eteri Tutberidzehas a string of successes in Grands Prix and flew over the European Championships in Tallinn last month.
The CAS indicates that it was not seized
During the team event of the 2022 Olympics, she became the first woman to land quadruple jumps at the Olympics, during his free program. On Wednesday, the IOC explained that the medal ceremony had been postponed for “legal” reasons, without giving further details.
Contacted Thursday morning in Beijing by AFP, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), whose anti-doping chamber validates decisions on anti-doping sanctions, indicated that it had “not yet been seized for this case”. The International Testing Agency (ITA), competent to carry out checks on the sites of the Olympic Games, for its part published a press release to explain that it had no announcement to make for the time being.
“The ITA is aware of the various articles circulating regarding the postponement of the medal ceremony for the team figure skating event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Any announcements related to these events would still be posted on the ITA website and would not be subject to further comment. No announcement of this type has been published at this stage, ”indicated this body.