The team figure skating competition wrapped up on Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics, but none of the athletes involved have been given medals yet. According to reports, the medal ceremony was delayed because 15-year-old skater Kamila Valieva, competing for the Russian Olympic Committee, tested positive for a prohibited substance.
According to Russian newspaper RBC Sport, a sample taken back in December from a member of the six-person Russian team tested positive for trimetazidine. Trimetazidine is a drug that's typically used to treat people with a heart condition called angina. But the substance is also on the World Anti-Dopping Agency's banned substances list.
The IOC still hasn't officially named what athletes are being mentioned in this case, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, despite multiple reports stating it is Valieva
The medal ceremony, without explanation, was pulled from the Olympics schedule on Tuesday. The United States finished in second place while Japan is set to receive the bronze medal.
"Let's, for the sake of understanding, wait for some explanations either from our sports officials or from the IOC," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked if the ROC athletes are in jeopardy of getting stripped of their first-place finish.
As far as the IOC goes, all the group has said is that here are "legal issues" that are delaying the medal ceremony.
If the Russian Olympic Committee is stripped of their medal, Canada was the fourth place team and would be upgraded to a bronze medal on the podium.
The team skating competition featured men's, women's pairs and ice dance categories. During the competition, Valieva became the first female skater to ever successfully execute a quad jump at a Winter Games.
