Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva reportedly failed a pre-competition doping test ahead of the Beijing Olympics, Russian media reported Wednesday, possibly meaning Japan will be elevated to team silver.
The Russian Olympic Committee team dominated the event, beating the United States by nine points for gold, but its 15-year-old women's singles entrant Valieva may now face sanction, according to the RBC and the Kommersant newspaper.
No medal ceremony has yet been held but a spokesperson for the Russian Skating Federation said Thursday the skater's eligibility to participate in the Olympics has not been suspended.
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Complicating the matter is that the World Anti-Doping Agency considers athletes under the age of 16 "protected" who are not required to establish how the prohibited substance entered their system and for whom the minimum sanction is a reprimand.
Valieva did not answer questions from the media after training on Thursday, and when questioned on the situation, International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said the same day, "I'm obviously not going to comment on speculation that I have also seen overnight."
Valieva was a cut above in the event, beating Japanese skaters Wakaba Higuchi and Kaori Sakamoto with relative ease in the short and free programs, respectively. Japan won bronze, two points short of the United States team.
Canada placed fourth and would be in line for bronze.
The RBC publication said the Russian skater was found to have a small amount of the banned substance trimetazidine, a drug used to treat the symptoms of angina, in her system in a test before the Feb. 4-20 games.
Russia is competing as the ROC at the Beijing Games as part of punishment imposed after a state-sponsored doping program was uncovered spanning multiple Olympic Games.
Russian bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva tested positive for the same substance at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang and was disqualified.
