MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA said on Friday it was investigating Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva’s support team after she tested positive for a banned drug.
RUSADA said it had received Valieva’s adverse test result on Monday – the same day the 15-year-old starred in the winning Russian ensemble in the figure skating team event at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
It said the results of the test, from a sample taken in December, had been held up because of COVID-19 cases at the Swedish laboratory that was analysing them.
“Due to the fact that the athlete is a minor … RUSADA initiated an investigation into the athlete’s personnel,” the agency said.
“The purpose of this investigation is to identify all the circumstances of a possible anti-doping rule violation in the interests of a ‘protected person’.”
(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
