Questions swirl as Russian skater awaits Beijing Olympics doping fate

Questions grew on Feb. 12 over why it took six weeks for Kamila Valieva's failed drug test to come to light, as the 15-year-old Russian figure skater fights to stay at the Beijing Olympics.

The build-up to the Games was overshadowed by concerns about Covid and human rights in China, and the doping scandal surrounding the prodigious teenager threatens to tarnish the Olympics anew.
Valieva's Beijing Olympic fate is now in the hands of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which is expected to make a ruling before she is scheduled to compete in the women's figure skating singles competition starting on Tuesday.
Valieva, who played a starring role in helping Russia win team gold in Beijing on Monday, tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine after competing at an event in Saint Petersburg on December 25.

However, the International Testing Agency said in a statement on Friday that the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratory in Stockholm only reported that Valieva had returned a positive case on February 8 -- the day after she won team gold in Beijing.
In an interview with AFP, United States Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart questioned the delay.
"The failure to report a test taken in December until after the team event in the Games is a catastrophic failure of the system to protect the public, the integrity of the Games and clean athletes who had to compete," Tygart said.
"It shouldn't have happened."
Tygart said US authorities and other nations routinely expedite test results for athletes due to be participating in major championships, precisely to avoid situations like the Valieva case.
Russia's anti-doping agency RUSADA said it had been informed that a sharp rise of Covid-19 infections at...