WASHINGTON — A Russian figure skating sensation competing at the Winter Olympics, who just days ago changed the sport forever, reportedly tested positive for a banned substance two months ago. As of Wednesday afternoon, it was unclear if the result would potentially cost the Russians their team figure skating win, potentially elevating the U.S. to the gold.
Kamila Valieva, 15, was the standout performance of the team figure skating competition when she became the first woman to land a quad jump at an Olympics, helping the Russian Olympic Committee to the gold.
Two Russian newspapers on Wednesday identified the banned substance as Trimetazidine, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
According to AP, Russian newspaper RBC reported the sample was obtained in December, when Valieva was still in Russia. But that sample did not come to light until after she had helped her team win the gold medal with dynamic performances in her short program and free skate.
A “person with knowledge of the situation” earlier told USA TODAY an athlete, who was a minor, on the Russian team had tested positive for a banned drug. Valieva was the only minor that competed in the team event for Russia.
Trimetazidine is used to to treat angina — a type of chest pain marked by reduced blood flow to the heart — and is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency as a stimulant. It is unclear whether Valieva has any heart problems.
Trimetazidine is the same drug that was involved in a Russian bobsled case at the 2018 Olympics that ended in a settlement and the athletes accepting an eight-month ban.
Russia is officially ROC at these Olympics because its name and flag are banned from the Olympics once again in the continuing fallout from the doping scandals which dominated the last decade of Russian sports.
The ceremony to award the Russian team the gold medals, the United States silver and Japan bronze was abruptly pulled from its scheduled slot late Tuesday.
The IOC then revealed Wednesday there were “legal issues” stopping them from handing out the medals for team figure skating competition. While International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams wouldn’t go into details, he said they “have athletes that have won medals involved.”
During her history-making performance, the 15-year-old Valieva opened with a huge quad salchow and followed with the difficult triple axel before landing another quad, this time a toe loop in combination with a triple toe loop.
NBC Olympics commentator Tara Lipinski had remarked that “We will be talking about this moment for the next 100 years.”
But now, Russia has found itself in the middle of another Olympic scandal.
This is the third and last Olympics that Russia’s name and flag have been banned. Last year, they fielded an ROC team for the Tokyo Olympics and the “Olympic Athlete from Russia” team at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The 2018 sanctions were for doping and cover-ups when Russia hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The current punishment is for a further cover-up, when the World Anti-Doping Agency found it had been handed manipulated doping data from the country’s national testing lab, which was under the control of Russian law enforcement. The restrictions on Russia expire in December 2022, well before the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The Russian government denies there was any state involvement in doping.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.