BEIJING — The 15-year-old star of
Russia’s figure skating team
who powered it to a win in the team figure skating competition tested positive
for a banned substance weeks before the Beijing Olympics, throwing into
question her team’s gold medal and her continued participation in the Games.
اضافة اعلان
The skater, Kamila Valieva, already considered one of the top
athletes in the sport, was found to have trimetazidine, a banned heart
medication, in her system, according to a statement Friday from the
International Testing Agency. The drug, which is not approved for use in the
United States, is believed to improve endurance by helping the heart work more
efficiently. Several top athletes, including Chinese swimmer Sun Yang and
Russian bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva, have served doping bans in recent years
after testing positive for the drug.
The revelation has upended the Olympic skating competition and
generated a slew of questions, including whether Valieva, who was favored to
win the individual event next week, will be allowed to compete and whether
Russia will be awarded its team gold medal. The United States, led by men’s
gold medalist Nathan Chen, finished second in the team event.
The news of the positive test also highlighted the presence of
Russian athletes at the Games even though their country is serving a multiyear
ban from global sports for a previous doping scandal. Russian athletes are
allowed to participate in the Olympics and other international events under
special permission, and only if their sports’ federations affirm they are free
of banned substances. The requirement was put in place after revelations that
Russia conducted a state-orchestrated cheating scheme at the 2014 Sochi Winter
Olympics.
Russia won the team event Monday behind a stunning performance
by Valieva, who landed two quadruple jumps, becoming the first woman to do so
in the Olympics.
Now, as the International Olympic Committee and figure skating’s
governing body, the International Skating Union, begin a protracted review, it
was not clear what punishment Valieva or Russia might receive, if any.
After several days of confusion, the International Testing
Agency, which oversees testing for the Games, disclosed Valieva’s positive test
Friday.
Mark Adams, a spokesperson for the IOC, said at a news
conference Friday in Beijing that he could not provide a timeline for when the
matter would be resolved.
“We have to wait for the process to run its course,” he said.
“We hope the whole issue can be expedited in the interest of every athlete.”
How Valieva was placed on the list of Russian athletes cleared
for the Games remains uncertain, and will be a key part of the inquiry.
At least one of her drug-testing samples leading to the Games
had yet to be tested after she submitted it on Dec. 25, when she was competing
in the Russian figure skating championship. A lab in Stockholm where the sample
was sent for testing did not report the positive result until Tuesday,
according to the testing agency, setting off chaos in the sport at its biggest
event.
The Russian Olympic Committee issued a statement defending
Valieva and her participation in the Games. The committee said that she had
passed doping tests before and after Dec. 25 and at the Games, and that the
positive test in question should not apply to her status in Beijing.
“This was a complete catastrophic failure to athletes and public
confidence,” Travis T. Tygart, chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency,
said Friday in a telephone interview. “It’s unacceptable that the system failed
athletes, including the Russian athlete, this way.”
The Russian antidoping agency briefly suspended Valieva, the
International Testing Agency said, after the lab in Stockholm reported the
failed test Tuesday, one day after the team event, but quickly lifted that
penalty. The World Anti-Doping Agency said Friday it was appealing that
decision, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport is expected to expedite a
hearing on the matter.
Tygart called it “total gross incompetence” that it took more
than a month for Valieva’s test result to be reported by the lab, and he said
that the Russian antidoping agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency, which
operates the lab in Stockholm, should have expedited the result with the
Olympics approaching. It was especially important because Russian women
recently have been so dominant in figure skating, he said.
“It’s heartbreaking, because this didn’t need to happen and
shouldn’t have happened,” Tygart said.
If Valieva had been taking trimetazidine with a doctor’s
recommendation, she would have had to file the paperwork for that before her
drug testing and her eligibility might not be in contention right now, Tygart
said. If she had been using it for performance-enhancing purposes — perhaps for
endurance or recovery — it could have possibly helped her land jump after jump
in the physically challenging and highly difficult routines that she performs
with ease.
In figure skating, increased endurance would benefit athletes by
making it easier to perform multiple jumps, especially in the second half of
their routines. As many as three jumps performed in the second half are given a
10% bonus in skating’s scoring system.
Antidoping authorities are expected to look into how the drug
got into Valieva’s system in the first place, particularly because she is a
minor. Coaches or others in her entourage found giving her a banned drug could
face penalties under antidoping rules, and under Russian law.
A disqualification for Valieva, or Russia’s team, could hand the
team gold to the United States, which posted its best finish after winning
bronze in the event at the past two Olympics. In that situation, Japan’s team
would move up to silver, and the Canadian team, which initially finished
fourth, would get the bronze.
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