Exclusive-US could prosecute Russians in Valieva doping case: USADA chief

BEIJING : The United States could prosecute the Russians involved in Kamila Valieva’s doping case under the American Rodchenkov Act (RADA), the head of the U.S. Anti Doping Agency Travis Tygart told Reuters on Friday.

The RADA bill was signed into U.S. law in 2020 and empowers American prosecutors to seek fines of up to $1 million and jail terms of up to 10 years, even for non-Americans if their actions affected American athletes’ results. Teenage Russian figure skater Valieva won gold on Monday but the International Testing Agency (ITA) said on Friday she had earlier failed a drug test. Olympic officials are now contesting Russia's decision to let her compete at the Beijing Winter Games.

(Reporting by: Iain Axon)