BBC Online :
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has argued her positive drugs test was due to contamination with her grandad’s medicine, an Olympic official says.
The 15-year-old failed a test but is being allowed to compete at Beijing 2022 after a court ruled on Monday ruled that a provisional suspension should not be re-imposed.
“Her argument was this contamination happened with a product her grandfather was taking,” the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Denis Oswald told reporters.
Valieva discovered a week ago that she had failed a drugs test but then successfully appealed against a Russian Anti-Doping Agency decision to impose a provisional suspension.
That decision was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday after appeals by the IOC and others.
It cleared the way for Valieva to continue participating at the Games and she will launch her bid for gold in the women’s figure skating competition on Tuesday.
She says she is “happy” but “emotionally tired” after the past week.
The pre-Games favourite, who had already wowed judges to help the Russian Olympic Committee to victory in the team event, continued training – in front of the cameras – amid uncertainty over whether she would be able to carry on competing.
“These [past] days have been very difficult for me,” Valieva, who sometimes looked tearful at the training rink, told Russia’s Channel One television.
