Russia has sensationally been accused of “hijacking” the Beijing Winter Olympics by the United States’ Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) amid the controversy surrounding teenager Kamila Valieva.
Valieva was yesterday given the all-clear to continue participating in the Olympics by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), despite testing positive to the endurance-boosting angina medication trimetazidine.
The decision has been met with fury in the United States. While USADA boss Travis Tygart expressed sympathy for Valieva, he was far from impressed with the CAS ruling.
“Either way, for the sixth consecutive Olympic Games, Russia has hijacked the competition and stolen the moment from clean athletes and the public,” Tygart said in a USADA statement.
“If Russia would have properly processed this sample which they collected weeks prior to the Olympic Games, we would know for certain whether the women’s individual event starting tomorrow will be a real competition and whether she should have been allowed to skate in the Figure Skating Team Event.”
While Valieva has been allowed to continue competing in Beijing, she has been barred from partaking in any medal ceremonies in her events, should she finish on the podium.
