The defense of the Russian skater Kamila Valieva, tested positive for trimetazidine at the end of December but authorized Monday to continue her Olympic Games-2022, evoked a possible accidental contamination of the young prodigy, indicated Denis Oswald, member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Tuesday.
“I did not attend the hearings (of the Court of Arbitration for Sport), but the argument (of his defense) was contamination with a product that his grandfather was taking”, indicated Denis Oswald, on the sidelines of the point- IOC daily press in Beijing.
Valieva, a 15-year-old Russian figure skating prodigy, tested positive for trimetazidine, a molecule used to treat angina pectoris and placed on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list since 2014, because it would promote blood circulation.
The “contaminated product” argument, i.e. the accidental ingestion of a doping substance through no fault of the athlete, is doubly important: it can make it possible to obtain a lifting of the provisional suspension, but also to reduce the sanction to a simple “reprimand without suspension” when the case is decided on the merits.
“The (identified) product is a little strange, especially for a girl of this age, but as I said before, until we know what happened, it’s hard to give his opinion,” Mr. Oswald cautiously added.
Detectability
Upon notification of her positive test on February 8, Valieva had been provisionally suspended by the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) before obtaining the lifting of her suspension the next day after appealing.
After hearing the various parties, including Valieva, for six hours, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decided, without ruling on the merits of the case, that Rusada’s decision to lift the suspension was justified and that the European champion 2022 could continue to participate in the Olympics-2022 where she won the team event.
She will be competing in the individual event, of which she is the big favorite, from Tuesday evening.
The thesis of contamination has already been recognized by sports authorities during positive controls for trimetazidine.
The Russian Nadezhda Sergeeva, who was taking part in the two-man bobsleigh event at the 2018 Olympic Games, tested positive during the Games, but the following October, the CAS had canceled her suspension, because her positive test resulted from a ” contaminated product.
In September 2018, American swimmer Madisyn Cox obtained a reduction of her suspension from two years to six months after proving accidental contamination with the same molecule, via a food supplement.
If no scientific publication has ever established the doping effects of trimetazidine, a Polish study from 2014 attested to its very good detectability, even on the smallest traces.
