BEIJING (Reuters) – Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who won gold in the team event at the Beijing Olympics on Monday, failed a drug test for a banned substance before the Games.
Here is a summary of key dates in the story:
Dec. 25: Valieva submitted a urine test at Russia’s national figure skating championships in St. Petersburg, where she won the women’s singles event.
Feb. 1: Valieva arrived in Beijing for her first Olympics along with the rest of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) figure skating team. Russian athletes are competing without their flag and anthem because of sanctions for past doping violations.
Feb. 7: ROC won the team competition at the Beijing Games, with 15-year-old Valieva landing the first quadruple jumps by a woman in Olympic competition.
Feb. 8: Valieva’s adverse result from Dec. 25 was reported to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden. Valieva was provisionally suspended by RUSADA.
The scheduled Beijing Olympics medal ceremony for the team event was postponed indefinitely by organisers due to an unspecified “legal consultation”.
Feb. 9: Valieva challenged her provisional suspension before the RUSADA Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee. The committee lifted the suspension for as yet undisclosed reasons.
Russian media reported that Valieva had returned a positive test.
Feb. 10: Valieva showed up for her scheduled practice at the rink near the Capital Indoor Stadium.
Feb. 11: After Valieva’s first practice session, the International Testing Agency (ITA) confirmed Valieva had failed a test for a banned substance before the Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Skating Union (ISU) said they would ask the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to overturn the Russian decision to lift her ban.
The ROC said that Valieva’s tests were negative before and after Dec. 25 and it was taking comprehensive measures to keep a gold medal won “honestly”.
Feb. 15: Valieva is scheduled to compete in women’s singles at the Beijing Olympics.
(Compiled by Hritika Sharma; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
