Doping| Russian sprinter tests positive for meldonium
Mon Mar 21, 2016 01:08:pm Sports
4.1K By sosa hills
Russia's first track-and-field athlete has tested positive for meldonium since the substance was banned, heaping further pressure on the country's athletics federation as it fights to have a doping ban repealed in time for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Kotlyarova is the first Russian track-and-field athlete to test positive for meldonium since the ban, though many others including tennis's Maria Sharapova have also done so.
Russia's athletics federation is racing against time to meet anti-doping standards dictated by the sports world governing body and have a cheating ban repealed in time for the Rio Olympics in August.
Twelve Russian sportsmen and women have tested positive for meldonium since it was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency on January 1, including world tennis star Maria Sharapova and speed skating Olympic gold-medallist Semion Elistratov.
"Nadezhda took this substance on her doctors' recommendation for at least half a year but then stopped using it," TASS quoted trainer Sergei Vorobyev as saying.
"No one told us how long this drug remains in the body. It is a strange situation."
Kotlyarova's positive test will undermine efforts by the Russian Athletics Federation to prove it is compliant with anti-doping standards after being suspended from international competition last year following revelations of wide-spread cheating and corruption.
Kotlyarova is the first Russian track-and-field athlete to test positive for meldonium since the ban, though many others including tennis's Maria Sharapova have also done so.
Russia's athletics federation is racing against time to meet anti-doping standards dictated by the sports world governing body and have a cheating ban repealed in time for the Rio Olympics in August.
Twelve Russian sportsmen and women have tested positive for meldonium since it was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency on January 1, including world tennis star Maria Sharapova and speed skating Olympic gold-medallist Semion Elistratov.
"Nadezhda took this substance on her doctors' recommendation for at least half a year but then stopped using it," TASS quoted trainer Sergei Vorobyev as saying.
"No one told us how long this drug remains in the body. It is a strange situation."
Kotlyarova's positive test will undermine efforts by the Russian Athletics Federation to prove it is compliant with anti-doping standards after being suspended from international competition last year following revelations of wide-spread cheating and corruption.
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