More than six weeks went by from the time teenage Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's sample was collected and the day she heard at the Beijing Olympics that she tested positive for a banned substance at her national championships.
The Russian Olympic Committee immediately questioned the timeline, wondering what might have happened in that time frame after the Russian Anti-Doping Agency lifted the 15-year-old's provisional suspension, allowing her to further train and compete.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.
"So unless it's a substance that's commonly targeted, a lab never gets a result out without the opinion of some of their peers." "According to the information sent by the laboratory to RUSADA, the delay in analysis and reporting by the laboratory was caused by another wave of COVID-19 , an increase in illness among laboratory staff and quarantine rules," RUSADA said.