Russian Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for banned drug, media reports

Russian media is reporting 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva has tested positive for a banned drug.

It follows a ceremony to present the Russian and her teammates with their Olympic gold medals being postponed due to an unspecified, last-minute «legal consultation».

Newspapers RBC and Kommersant said the drug was trimetazidine, which is typically used to treat chest pain.

The news broke late at night in Beijing, where Valieva was part of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) ensemble that won the figure skating team event ahead of the United States and Japan.

The ROC declined to comment on earlier reports that Valieva had returned a positive test.

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

She was one of four ROC skaters who did not appear at their practice sessions on Wednesday.

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

«The drug trimetazidine does not help an athlete in any way. At all,» he wrote on social media.

«It was found in one single sample in December. A minuscule amount. Nothing in her samples before or since

»There is no doping in the conventional sense. No! This cardiac drug has no impact on … performance. Now leave Kamila in peace."

Trimetazidine, or TMZ, works by increasing blood flow to the heart and limiting rapid swings in blood pressure. It is listed as a metabolic modulator on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list.

According to the US Anti-Doping Agency, TMZ can be used by athletes to improve their performance, especially in endurance sports.

It has been on the