Kamila Valieva claims she may have tested positive for a banned drug after sharing water with GRANDPA

Scandal-hit Olympic skater Kamila Valieva may have failed a doping test due to her grandfather’s heart condition and the medication he takes, it has been claimed.

The evidence was presented to the arbitration panel which heard her plea Sunday night and cleared the 15-year-old gold medalist to continue at the Winter Olympics.

The banned drug is claimed to have entered the teenage girl because she shared a glass of water with her grandfather who uses medication for heart disease.

During the International Olympic Committee’s daily briefing, member Denis Oswald confirmed that Valieva’s argument for lifting his suspension was “contamination that happened with a product his grandfather was taking”.

The Pravda publication reported that the 15-year-old girl’s mother, Alsu Valieva, and her lawyer Anna Kozmenko made the suggestion during the skater’s Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing on Sunday.

The gold medalist, pictured on February 7, claims the trimetazidine found in her system may have been accidentally ingested while sharing a glass of water with her grandfather.

She was cleared to continue competing at the Winter Olympics on Monday, but is awaiting a later hearing to determine whether she will be found guilty of testing positive last Christmas for the angina drug trimetazidine.

According to Pravda, CAS was told that Valieva’s grandfather, who allegedly had an artificial heart, left saliva on a piece of grass before the skating sensation later drank from it.

Valieva, meanwhile, broke her silence, saying the trimetazidine doping scandal has left her in tears and “emotionally tired”.

She will compete as the top favorite in individual figure skating on Tuesday, after a week in which she was in the eye of an international storm.

She told Russian TV channel Channel One: “These days have been very difficult for me, emotionally. I am happy but emotionally tired.

‘That’s why these tears of joy and a bit of sadness. But, of course, I am happy to participate in the Olympic Games. I will do my best to represent our country.

“Apparently this is a stage that I have to go through. I hear so many good wishes. I saw banners outside Moscow. It’s very nice, this support is very important to me in this difficult time. I thought I was alone, but my closest friends and family will never give up on me.

Valieva is free to enter future events and is favorite to win. She could lose the gold she has already scored depending on the results of an ongoing investigation into her behavior

His comments follow an unsuccessful attempt by the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Skating Union to convince the Court of Arbitration for Sport to impose a provisional suspension.

Valieva was instead given a reprieve and will push for a second Games win after inspiring Russia to team gold.

The WADA has already said an investigation will be carried out into Valieva’s entourage to establish how she came to test positive, while the IOC has said there will be no medal ceremony. for the individual event if Valieva finishes in the top three.

USA criticized the decision to allow the troubled teenager I to continue to compete in Beijing and said it prevented a “level playing field”.

‘The only difference I see is that I’m black’: US track star Sha’Carri Richardson, who was banned from the Olympics for smoking weed, slams double standard

by Alyssa Guzman

US track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson has slammed the International Olympic Committee for double standards after allowing 15-year-old Russian figure skating phenom Kamila Valieva to compete despite an ongoing investigation into her failed doping test .

The 21-year-old said in a tweet on Monday that “no black athlete” had been able to compete while under investigation for doping, and that the only difference between “his situation and the mine” was the color of his skin.

‘Can we have a solid answer on the difference between his situation and mine?’ she wrote on Twitter on Monday. “My mum died and I can’t race and I was also favored to finish in the top three. The only difference I see is that I’m a young black woman.

“It’s all in the skin,” she continued. ‘[By the way] THC is definitely not a performance enhancer!!!!’

Richardson was disqualified from the Tokyo 2020 Games after testing positive for marijuana after her test returned from the Olympic trials. She claimed to have smoked marijuana after learning from a reporter that her biological mother had died.

By comparison, Valieva tested positive for a banned heart drug, trimetazidine, in December during her national championships. Oddly, the results weren’t released by anti-doping authorities until last Tuesday after she starred as Russia won gold in the team discipline a day earlier.

A panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport decided on Monday that she would be allowed to compete because she is a protected person under the age of 16.

Trimetazidine is a heart medication that can increase blood flow efficiency and improve endurance. Some Russian athletes have abused it to improve their performance. The drug is banned both in-competition and out-of-competition by WADA.

American track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson, 21, has slammed the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to allow Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, 15, to continue competing at the Olympics after testing positive for trimetazidine (TMZ)