The agency responded in this way to Friday’s statements of the International Testing Agency (ITA), which reported positive results of the test conducted on the athlete on that date that showed the presence of trimetazidine.

It further indicated that the reason for the postponement of the awards ceremony of the figure skating team competition was the positive result of the test to that athlete at the end of the year.

At that time, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) imposed a temporary suspension on the figure skater, a measure that was successfully challenged.

ROC head Stanislav Pozdniakov noted that the period of the processing of Valiyeva’s positive doping test by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratory raises “serious questions,” Sputnik news agency reported.

“Before and after December 25, 2021 the athlete was repeatedly tested for doping, including in Beijing during the figure skating tournament. All were negative,” a statement posted on its website noted.

According to the text, the ROC is doing everything possible to preserve the gold won “honestly” by the Russian team in the figure skating team event and to protect the rights and interests of team members.

It warned that the individual results of Valiyeva and the rest of the Russian skaters in the team competition are not subject to automatic review, because the athlete’s positive doping test was not conducted during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

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