Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian discern skating celebrity who helped her team win Winter Olympic gold in Beijing, failed a capsules take a look at in December.
Valieva, who changed into the primary lady skater to land a quadruple leap at an Olympics as her crew gained last Monday, had a sample gathered on 25 December at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St Petersburg.
But the high quality end result changed into only pronounced on Tuesday – the day after she helped to win crew gold, but before the medal rite had taken place.
Valieva case puts Russia & doping again in highlight
Valieva examined advantageous for trimetazidine, that is used in the prevention of angina attacks, however is at the banned list because it is classed as a cardiac metabolic modulator and has been demonstrated to enhance bodily performance.
A series of appeals means this situation will now be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) to make a final ruling – with International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams announcing he desired a decision “as quickly as viable”.
The medals for the group event – in which the United States completed second, Japan 1/3 and Canada fourth – will now not be provided till the final results of the Cas listening to.
A spokesman for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) said it’s going to “take comprehensive measures so one can shield the rights and pastimes of the members of the ROC team and to preserve the sincerely received Olympic gold medal”.
Rusada – the Russian anti-doping corporation – said on Friday that it’s far investigating Valieva’s guide crew to “perceive all the instances of a likely anti-doping rule violation”.
Cas will now hear the case earlier than Valieva’s scheduled appearance within the man or woman ladies’s figure skating event, which starts next Tuesday, 15 February.
Timeline
The International Testing Agency (ITA) stated Valieva had a pattern gathered on 25 December on the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St Petersburg.
The pattern turned into despatched to the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada)-accredited laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden.
Valieva competed in the European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, in January – which turned into between the superb test and the Winter Olympics – and received the women’s singles, with Russian claiming a smooth sweep of the gold medals.
The ROC pointed out that Valieva’s samples taken on the Europeans and earlier than the Beijing Winter Olympics had been each poor, including: “Taking into account that the high quality doping pattern of the athlete turned into not collected for the duration of the Olympic Games, the results of the athlete and the outcomes of the group event all through the Olympic Games aren’t routinely concern to review.”
The detrimental finding became stated on 7 February and Valieva was notified of the high quality end result on eight February.
Valieva turned into provisionally suspended but she challenged the selection and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) agreed to raise it on 9 February – enabling her to maintain at the Beijing Games.
Because of her age, Valieva became no longer showed as the athlete on the centre of “prison problems” delaying the medal ceremony, till it was extensively suggested inside the media on 10 February. The ITA showed the ones reports on 11 February because of “heightened public hobby”.
The International Olympic Committee, Wada and the International Skating Union (ISU) have all now appealed towards Rusada’s lifting of the provisional ban, with the ISU calling on the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) to reinstate it.
The ITA stated the “reasoned decision, which includes the grounds for which the provisional suspension changed into lifted, might be issued quickly to all worried parties”.
Why the postpone?
Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov informed the Tass News Agency that the long gap between the 25 December test and the eight February result regarded suspicious and that he had “critical questions on the system”.
Rusada, the Russian anti-doping organisation, claimed that the delay in processing Valieva’s pattern became due to Covid-19 instances at the Swedish laboratory that become analysing them.
Medallists deserve their moments – reaction
Valieva, who is favourite for the girls’s singles, has been visible education on the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing.
Eric Myles, leader game officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee, said: “We have the identical questions as anybody else about the crew figure skating case.
“It’s crucial that a fair procedure unfolds and the integrity of recreation is covered. Our hope is that this is resolved quickly and the medallists get the medal moment they’ve earned here in Beijing.”
Russian athletes are competing under the name of the Russian Olympic Committee because Russia acquired a two-year ban from Wada in 2019 for its nation-backed doping programme.
Between 17 December 2020 and 17 December 2022, no athlete can constitute Russia on the Olympics, Paralympics or World Championships.
The ban changed into originally for four years however become decreased to 2 by Cas.
Germany’s Katarina Witt, a two-time Olympic discern skating champion, said: “What they knowingly did to her, if proper, can’t be handed in inhumanity and makes my athlete’s heart cry infinitely.
“Kamila Valieva is a younger woman and toddler prodigy, whose quite hard performances and style enchanted the whole international at simplest 15, a minor, relying on adults and she or he isn’t always to blame here.”
United States Anti-Doping Agency head Travis Tygart stated: “It is a catastrophic failure of the device to permit the superstar of the Games to have her pattern now not reported returned near five weeks, and then it gets suggested the day after they won the team occasion.”