Russians Fight to Keep Olympic Gold Despite Figure Skater’s Failed Drugs Test

Russian Olympic bosses say they’re determined to keep the gold medal won by their figure-skating team at the Beijing Olympics—despite the team’s teenage star failing a drug test. Kamila Valieva, 15, led the team to victory on Monday after becoming the first woman to land quad jumps in Olympic competition, but they have been kept waiting for their medals after it emerged a doping sample she gave on Dec. 25 had tested positive for a banned heart drug. Reacting to the official confirmation of that failed test, the Russian Olympic committee said in a statement that the results of the team event “are not subject to automatic revision” because the test was not taken at the Beijing Games. “The Russian Olympic Committee is taking comprehensive measures to protect the rights and interests of the ROC Team members and to keep the Olympic gold medal won in fair competition. The ROC also assumes that a full investigation will be conducted to determine all the relevant legal and factual circumstances of what happened.”