Russia’s Kamila Valieva says grandfather's medicine led to positive test, says IOC member

Beijing - Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva told her doping hearing at the Beijing Olympics that she tested positive because of "contamination" from her grandfather's medicine, a senior IOC member said on Tuesday.

"I was not in the hearing but her argument was this contamination which happened with a product her grandfather was taking." Denis Oswald told reporters after an IOC media briefing in Beijing.

Russian media said Valieva allegedly drank from the same glass that her grandfather, who has a heart condition, had used.

Valieva will skate in the Olympic women's singles competition later Tuesday after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled the 15-year-old could take part despite failing a drugs test.

She tested positive in December for trimetazidine, a drug used to treat angina but which is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) because it can increase blood flow efficiency and help endurance.

Oswald, a lawyer who oversaw the International Olympic Committee's sanctions stemming from mass Russian doping at the 2014 Sochi Games, said the substance was not one a girl of Valieva's age would take.

"It's true the product is a bit strange, especially for a girl of her age," he said.

"But again, as long as we don't know exactly how it happened, it's hard to make a judgement."

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