Russian skater’s positive drug test delays medals ceremony: report

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Wednesday that the medal ceremony for the team figure skating event would be delayed because of a “legal consultation.”

USA Today reported on Wednesday that sources familiar with the situation said the delay was due to a positive drug test of one member of Russia’s six-person team, though they did not name which athlete received the positive test.

Russian athletes are competing at the 2022 Winter Games as members of Team ROC, or Russian Olympic Committee, as a consequence of a 2019 doping scandal involving the Russian Anti-Doping Agency.

The ceremony for the event, which was won by a team of Russian skaters, was first moved from Monday to Tuesday evening before being indefinitely postponed, according to Reuters.

“A situation arose at short notice that requires legal consultation,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said, according to Reuters.

“You can bet your bottom dollar we are doing everything that this situation can be resolved as soon as possible. I cannot give you any more details but we will do our utmost,” he added.

Also on Wednesday, four Russian skaters — Anastasia Mishina, Aleksandr Galliamov, Mark Kondratiuk and 15-year-old star Kamila Valieva — were absent from practices for unknown reasons, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said that Moscow had “heard no official statements and let us judge based on them, because we are currently based on media reports only,” the outlet reported.