Russian superstar Kamila Valieva will discover on Monday if she can continue at the Winter Olympics

Russian skating star Kamila Valieva will discover on Monday if she can continue at the Winter Olympics after failing a drugs test… just a day before the 15-year-old hopes to win a second gold medal

  • Russian skater Kamila Valieva will learn on Monday if she can still compete at the Winter Olympics
  • The 15-year-old superstar is currently at the centre of a major doping scandal
  • Her coach Eteri Tutberidze is adamant that Valieva is ‘innocent and clean’


The Russian skating phenomenon in the eye of a major doping scandal, Kamila Valieva, will find out on Monday if she can continue competing at the Winter Olympics.

On a day when the International Olympic Committee faced calls from within to impose a total Games ban on Russia after its latest drugs woes, it was confirmed the Court of Arbitration for Sport will meet on Sunday to discuss the case of 15-year-old Valieva.

It emerged this week that she tested positive last Christmas for the banned substance trimetazidine – a violation that only came to light the day after she was the star performer as Russia won gold in the team discipline on Monday.

Russian skating star Kamila Valieva will learn on Monday if she can stay at the Winter Olympics

Valieva is the heavy favourite for Olympic individual gold, which takes place this Tuesday

Valieva is the heavy favourite for Olympic individual gold, which takes place this Tuesday

With Valieva the heavy favourite for individual gold this Tuesday, she will have to wait until the last moment to know if she can compete, with the IOC, the International Skating Union (and the World Anti-Doping Agency appealing to CAS to reinstate a suspension.

Valieva’s controversial coach Eteri Tutberidze said: ‘I want to say that I am absolutely sure that Kamila is innocent and clean. For us, this is not a theorem, but an axiom, it does not need to be proved. We are with our athletes, in trouble and in joy, to the end.’

She added: ‘It is very unclear why an athlete with a dubious doping test on December 25 was admitted to the Olympic Games. Either this is a fatal coincidence, or this is a very competent plan. I really hope that our leaders will not abandon us, defend our rights and prove our innocence.’

Valieva's coach Eteri Tutberidze said she is 'absolutely sure' her athlete is 'innocent and clean'

Valieva’s coach Eteri Tutberidze said she is ‘absolutely sure’ her athlete is ‘innocent and clean’

Tutberidze questioned why Valieva was allowed to come to the Games if she had supposedly a 'dubious drugs test' at Christmas

Tutberidze questioned why Valieva was allowed to come to the Games if she had supposedly a ‘dubious drugs test’ at Christmas

Tutberidze, as part of the team around Valieva, could come under scrutiny, after the IOC said it would welcome an anti-doping investigation into Valieva’s ‘entourage’.

Meanwhile, Dick Pound, a long-standing member of the IOC, wants to see Russia put in ‘timeout’ after this latest scandal, which comes after state-sponsored doping was uncovered in the wake of the Sochi 2014 Games.

Pound said: ‘At a certain point if they are absolutely incorrigible you end up with the position of taking a country timeout. We could say we can help you. You’ve got a problem. We can concentrate on it. Take a time out for one or two, or three Olympic Games until you get this under control.’ 

Valieva tested positive on Christmas Day for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication

Valieva tested positive on Christmas Day for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication



***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk