Banned Russian skater blames grandfather’s strawberry dessert for failing drug test

Kamila Valieva takes the world stage at Beijing 2022

Lausanne, Switzerland:

Russian ice skater Kamila Valyeva claims a strawberry dessert her grandfather made on the board he used to press pills may have been the reason she tested positive for doping.

Valyeva, once a 15-year-old gold medal favorite, was banned for four years last month after testing positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine in December 2021.

The full report of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling published on Wednesday said Valieva claimed the drug may have entered her system through consuming contaminated food shortly before the 2021 Russian Championships, “namely by consuming a drug prepared by her grandfather.” Medications are often crushed on the chopping board.”

Valieva has also in the past blamed “contaminated cutlery” that she shared with her grandfather, who received trimetazidine after receiving an artificial heart and who drove her to training every day.

Another explanation offered by Valieva is that she may have shared the glass her grandfather used to take the medicine.

There are some questions about the value of trimetazidine, which is commonly used to treat angina, in athletes. It has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) since 2014. Side effects include gait disturbance and hallucinations.

Valyeva, now 17, burst onto the world stage at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, becoming the first female skater to land a quadruple jump and winning a team figure skating gold medal.

An investigation by Russia’s anti-doping agency initially found Valyeva had “no fault or negligence” for the positive test, but WADA appealed the CAS ruling.

The Russian Figure Skating Federation said it “firmly” disagrees with the CAS decision.

Valieva’s competition results have been deleted after she failed the exam.

The team gold medal she helped the Russian Olympic Committee win in Beijing was awarded to Team USA, with Russia falling to bronze without Valieva’s help.

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