The 15-year-old figure-skating sensation whose unprecedented quad jumps powered Russia to the team figure skating gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics was reported today to have failed a drug test before competition.
The report from the Inside the Games news website naming Kamila Valieva as the athlete at the center of the latest Russian doping scandal came after the International Olympic Committee twice delayed the formal medal ceremony at which she and her five Russian teammates were to be presented with their gold medals.
There was no official confirmation of the failed test, nor details on what substance was involved, but Russian media said it was not performance-enhancing but “used to treat a cardiological problem.” RBC News named it as trimetazidine, which is used to prevent angina attacks but is considered a stimulant by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
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The failed drug test makes it all but certain that the Russians will be stripped of their gold medal, which would go instead to their American rivals.
But Valieva’s age is a complicating factor because, under WADA rules, she is considered a “protected person” as she is under 16, which means that she cannot be held responsible for substances found in her doping samples and should not even be publicly named as a suspect.
That might explain why, when asked earlier Wednesday about the delayed ceremony, IOC spokesman Mark Adams portrayed it as primarily a “legal” issue that needed to be sorted out.
The news comes as a major blow to the IOC after its decision to allow Russian athletes to compete despite a worldwide ban on the Russian national team because of its track record of systematic state-sponsored doping.
Given Valieva’s age, attention will focus on the role played by Team Tutberidze, the super-successful Moscow gymnastics team run by Coach Eteri Tutberidze, whose previous charges include former Olympic champions Alina Zagitova and Yulia Lipnitskaya.
The Russians had seemingly wrapped up their victory in the team event Monday, with Valieva becoming the first woman to ever land quadruple jumps in the free program.
After taking to the ice for the informal “flower ceremony,” the six gymnasts were meant to be formally awarded their gold medals that night, with Nathan Chen and the Americans to get silver medals and the Japanese team bronze. But the ceremony was postponed for 24 hours without any explanation—and then postponed again, indefinitely, on Tuesday night.
The mystery deepened Wednesday when four of the Russian team skaters did not turn up for a scheduled practice session at the Beijing skating venue. Valieva was among those missing.
Asked about the delayed medal ceremony at a briefing on Wednesday, IOC spokesman Adams said, “A situation arose at short notice that requires legal consultation... You can bet your bottom dollar we are doing everything that this situation can be resolved as soon as possible."
The skaters, and other Russian athletes in Beijing, are competing in these Games not as the Russian team, with the Russian flag and anthem, but under the name and (strikingly similar) colors of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The messy compromise was meant to allow the athletes themselves to compete while punishing Russia. But it seems to have only spurred the whole team to greater success: The ROC is leading the medal tally in Beijing, with 10 medals in total—although it only has two golds, including the one still to be formally handed to the figure skating team.
