Olympics 2022: tested positive, the Russian skater Kamila Valieva turns to the CAS

15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva training in Beijing on February 10, 2022. AP - Jeff Roberson

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4 mins

The Kamila Valieva affair is gaining momentum at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The reasons for the postponement of the awards ceremony for the figure skating team event on Monday have now been confirmed.

The 15-year-old Russian phenomenon did indeed undergo a positive doping test before the Games.

His case is now the subject of proceedings before the competent authorities.

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It was the ITA, the International Authority responsible for supervising the anti-doping programs of around fifty federations, which put an end to the false suspense.

Kamila Valieva has indeed tested positive for trimetazidine, a drug against angina pectoris, but banned since 2014, for its ability to improve endurance, reports our special correspondent in Beijing,

.

The control dates back to December 25, during the Russian championships, but the result was not revealed until Tuesday to the young prodigy, the day after his coronation by team.

Immediately suspended provisionally by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, she nevertheless obtained the lifting of the sanction on Wednesday evening, without justification made public.

►Also read: Beijing Olympics: does China's zero Covid strategy spoil the Olympic party?

Dissatisfied, the International Olympic Committee and the International Skating Federation immediately filed an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, invited to rule before next Tuesday, the day of the short program of the women's competition.

In Moscow this Friday, the Kremlin spokesman supported the girl.

“ 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“ 

".

The Russian Olympic Committee questions

If Kamila Valieva were to be punished, her status as a minor – remember that she is only 15 – should ensure her a lighter and more confidential suspension.

But what about the medal ceremony?

When and with which teams?

Especially since under the health protocol in force for these winter games, any skater who has completed his or her tests must leave China within 48 hours.

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) reacted strongly by questioning the conditions of the analysis, carried out in Stockholm,

within the framework of the sanctions against the Russian anti-doping agency, and in particular on the time limit.

“

, ”said ROC Chairman Stanislav Pozdnyakov.

" 

 " at the Beijing Olympics, won by the Russians, he added.

Unrelated to the cocktail of steroids used by the Russians during the incredible scandal of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, or to the EPO involved in endurance disciplines, trimetazidine is rarely detected in a sports setting.

Trimetazidine, a product with disputed doping properties

Tested positive in 2019 and suspended for four years for doping in July 2020, French wrestler Zelimkhan Khadjiev had articulated his defense before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), challenging the scientific bases of the WADA list.

According to doctor Jean-Pierre Mondenard, a doping specialist cited as a witness and interviewed last year by AFP, " 

 ".

The pharmacist and toxicologist Pascal Kintz, also cited by the defense, noted in a study "the vagueness of the pharmacological activity of the molecule at the level of the AMA", which first classified it among the "stimulants". before classifying it as “metabolic modulators”.

“ 

parkinsonian-type side effects do not seem to be such as to encourage use in athletes”, he underlined in the journal

, evoking the risks of “

 ”.

(and with

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• Olympic Games 2022

• China

• Russia

• doping