Russian figure skater turns up for practice after reports of failed drug test

BEIJING : Russian figure skating sensation Kamila Valieva showed up for her scheduled practice at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday, after Russian media reported the 15-year-old had tested positive for a banned substance.

The teenager was part of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) ensemble that won the figure skating team event on Monday ahead of the United States and Japan. The ceremony to present her and her team mates with their Olympic medals has been delayed since then for unexplained legal reasons.

Wearing a navy blue hoodie, black tights with shorts over them and her hair tied in a bun, Valieva took to the ice just after 11 a.m. Her coach Eteri Tutberidze also attended.

Russian media reported on Wednesday that Valieva had returned a positive test, with newspapers RBC and Kommersant naming the drug as Trimetazidine, which is typically used to treat chest pain.

Repeated attempts to reach the ROC chef de mission by Reuters were unsuccessful. His phone was not answering, and the ROC office in Beijing was locked and unmanned on Thursday. The ROC on Wednesday declined to comment on the reports that Valieva had returned a positive test.

The International Olympics Committee also declined to comment on Thursday.

The teenager delivered one of the highlights of the Beijing Games so far when she landed the first quadruple jumps by a woman in Olympic competition.

Figure skating is a prestige sport for Russia, in which it has an outstanding record at Olympic and world championships. Any move to penalise Valieva or strip the team of their medals would likely cause a national outcry.

Prominent journalist Vasily Konov, deputy general producer at Russian sports channel Match-TV, said without citing sources that the sample in question had