Probe of Valieva's entourage would be welcomed by IOC

BEIJING :Olympic officials on Saturday said they would welcome an anti-doping investigation into the Russian doctors, coaches and family members in the entourage of 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva.

Valieva's future at the Beijing Olympics hangs in the balance after the stunning revelation she had tested positive for a banned substance before winning the team event on Monday, but that the positive drug test report took more than six weeks to be made public.

She is one of the youngest athletes ever to test positive for doping at the Olympics.

Fans of figure skating, athletes and anti-doping advocates have expressed outrage over a teenager being at the centre of a doping controversy with a positive test for a drug used to treat heart conditions like angina.

Many have questioned the role of the adults around the teenage skater and the continuing scourge of Russian doping in international sports.

The Kremlin - alreading facing Western diplomatic wrath over a troop buildup near Ukraine - calls Valieva's case a "misunderstanding".

Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar of sexual abuse, told Reuters that the Russian prodigy's failed drug test was a reminder of how vulnerable young athletes remain.

"A child does not make a choice to take those kinds of medications unless they're given to her by somebody who's in authority," Denhollander told Reuters.

"What we're really seeing is the incredible damage that has come yet again to a child who has been under the control of adults who value her, not for who she is but for what she can produce for them."

On Saturday, spokesman Mark Adams said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would welcome an investigation into the