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Kamila Valiyeva
Photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP
Many jumps went wrong, she was often on the ice: The highly favored Kamila Valiewa missed an Olympic medal in the individual competition in Beijing.
The athlete from Russia, who tested positive for doping, was only fourth.
After the short program on Wednesday, she was still leading the field.
Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trussova from the Russian team won gold and silver, while Kaori Sakamoto from Japan was third.
There would not have been a medal ceremony because 15-year-old Valiewa had tested positive if she had finished in the top three.
Your doping result of the sample taken in December was only known during the Olympic Games and after the team final.
There, the Russian selection for Valiewa had won.
The International Court of Arbitration for Sports Cas had allowed the European champion in an urgent procedure to also take part in the women's singles.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided that there will be no award ceremony even if Valiyeva wins another medal.
But things turned out differently.
According to media reports, before her positive doping test, Valiyeva reported taking two legal heart medications.
According to an assessment by the World Anti-Doping Agency Wada, this fuels doubts about the representation by Valiyeva's lawyers that the banned substance trimetazidine accidentally entered the 15-year-old's body.
As reported by the US news agency AP and the New York Times, citing documents from the emergency proceedings at the Beijing Winter Games, Valiyeva indicated the use of hypoxene and L-carnitine on the registration form before a doping control.
These substances in combination with trimetazidine are an indication "that something more serious is going on," said US doping hunter Travis Tygart.
All means would be used to improve performance.
That weakens the credibility of Valiyeva's defense strategy, said the head of the American Anti-Doping Agency.
jan/dpa