Kamila Valieva's failed drugs test confirmed - but now IOC faces battle with Russia to stop her competing

The Beijing Games were thrown into chaos on Friday with 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva confirmed as failing a drugs test for a banned substance, and the International Olympic Committee going to battle with Russia over the decision to let her continue competing. 

The International Testing Agency said it will lead an appeal on behalf of the IOC after Russia's anti-doping agency (Rusada) opted to lift the teenage skating superstar's provisional suspension which was applied earlier this week for testing positive for banned heart medication trimetazidine. The sample had been taken on Christmas Day but the result was only returned by a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab on Tuesday. 

Now at the centre of the biggest story of the Games, Russian Olympic Committee athlete Valieva trained twice in Beijing on Friday, falling three times while practising her free skate routine to Ravel's Bolero during the latter session. Walking through unaccompanied afterwards, she refused to stop for media, covering her face with her training top and appearing to shake her head when asked if she was clean or had taken drugs.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will now hear the case before her scheduled appearance in the women's singles event, which starts on Feb 15. There will be plenty of questions asked regarding the timeline of events, with the issue of Russia and their so-called compliance with anti-doping rules and regulations thrust right back into the spotlight. On Wednesday night reports had begun to emerge identifying ROC's Valieva - Russian athletes are competing as representatives of the ROC due to the doping sanctions - as the cause of the "legal issue" holding up the medal presentation for Monday's team event.

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