BEIJING — Finally, a reprieve from talking about Russia’s cheating at the Olympics! This time, it’s the Russian Olympic Committee’s cheating at the Olympics.
Eight years after Team Russia ran a sophisticated state-sanctioned doping program that involved passing dirty samples through a hole in a wall, and two years after it was punished by having to call itself by a ridiculous acronym containing the word Russia and wear a marginally modified version of the Russian flag, we are doing this again. It’s hard to believe those crippling sanctions did not teach Russia a lesson!
The International Testing Association confirmed on Friday that star 15-year-old Russian—sorry, ROC—figure skater Kamila Valieva had tested positive for a banned substance called trimetazidine. It is most commonly prescribed to treat angina, chest pain caused by a heart that is not getting enough oxygen—not a condition commonly found in teenagers. Most such drugs work by reducing the strain on the heart; trimetazidine increases blood flow to the heart. That could be helpful if your heart is engaged in, say, vigorous exercise.
