Olympic Curler Did Not Take Banned Substance Intentionally: Russian Minister

Zeeshan Mehtab Published February 21, 2018 | 01:36 AM

Moscow, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Feb, 2018 ) :Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky tested positive for the banned substance meldonium at the Winter Olympics but could not have taken the substance intentionally, the Russian sports minister said Tuesday.

Krushelnitsky had passed rigorous vetting to attend the Pyeongchang Games, raising questions over the testing programme and the move to let Russians compete despite systemic doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"In this case, the athlete could not have used the banned drug (meldonium) intentionally, it would be simply pointless. Curling, as a whole, is not the kind of sport in which dishonest athletes use doping," sports minister Pavel Kolobkov said in comments carried by news agencies.

"No one is blaming anyone now, but the fact remains. We need to work out how and when the drug got into the body," the minister added. Earlier the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) confirmed the positive result and expressed "deep regret" over the incident.

But it said the concentration of meldonium was "absolutely insignificant from the point of view of any sort of therapeutic effect on the human body," adding that Krushelnitsky's previous tests had come back negative.

The ROC said it would begin a comprehensive investigation into the case. "We completely share and support the IOC and WADA position of zero tolerance for doping and will take all necessary measures to ensure guilty parties are punished to the fullest extent," the statement added.

Krushelnitsky, 25, who won bronze in the mixed doubles curling with his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova, was one of 168 athletes passed as "clean" and allowed to compete as neutrals after a targeted testing programme stretching back over several months.

Russian curling federation president Dmitry Svishchev earlier dismissed the case against Krushelnitsky as a "provocation, a subversive act". Russia were banned as a team from the Olympics in December after investigations revealed an extensive doping plot culminating at the 2014 Winter Olympics that it hosted in Sochi, where Russia topped the medals table.