Beijing (AP) – In the Olympic doping scandal surrounding Kamila Valiyeva, the Russian figure skater wants to prove her innocence with the help of the B sample.
The 15-year-old will apply for the B sample to be examined because, among other things, there could have been a technical error by the Stockholm anti-doping laboratory when analyzing her doping test, explained Valiyeva’s lawyers. This emerges from the 41-page verdict for the summary proceedings in the case, which the International Sports Court Cas published on Thursday evening.
In her defense, Valiyeva’s lawyers referred to the “extremely low concentration” of the heart drug trimetazidine, which is prohibited under anti-doping rules, and which had been detected in the A sample. During doping controls, athletes provide urine, two-thirds of which is filled into an A sample bottle. The remainder forms the B sample.
In the verdict, the lawyers’ attempt to justify the positive test with Valiyeva’s contact with her grandfather, who has a heart condition, can be read in detail. The banned substance had accidentally entered the athlete’s body through contamination.
Valiyeva’s grandfather often drove her to training and spent a lot of time with her. After a heart transplant, he regularly takes trimetazidine and usually carries the medicine with him. A video showing the grandfather in his car with a pack of the drug also served as evidence.
Valiyeva’s positive doping test on December 25 only became known during the Winter Games in Beijing. The Cas judges nevertheless allowed her to start in the Olympic women’s singles in view of her status as a minor and the incomplete doping process. There, the gold favorite finished fourth on Thursday after days of doping hype and a faulty freestyle.