REPORTERS who broke the news of Russian skater Kamila Valieva’s positive drugs test claim to have been sent DEATH THREATS at the Winter Olympics.
Duncan Mackay and Michael Pavitt from the Inside the Games website faced a barrage of anger when they reported the story on Wednesday.
The pair were accused of lying and Russian media dismissed Valieva’s situation as having nothing to do with doping.
But the Independent Testing Agency (ITA) later confirmed the story was true on Friday.
Now Pavitt has told the Guardian Mackay was subject to death threats while both have been the targets of ‘significant’ abuse.
Another British journalist was criticised by members of the Russian media and even politicians for asking Valieva if she was clean.
Svetlana Zhurova – a former Olympic speed skating champ and now a deputy of Russia’s State Duma – blasted the questioner and western media in general.
Teen sensation Valieva was caught up in an anti-doping storm after the Russian Olympic Committee won the team figure skating event on Monday.
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The 15-year-old stole the show as the first female figure skater to land a quadruple jump at a Games in the women’s short program at the city’s Capital Indoor Stadium.
But Tuesday night’s medals ceremony for the event was postponed and the IOC cited legal wrangling behind the scenes.
Inside the Games then reported she was the subject of a drugs probe before the ITA confirmed she had given a positive test taken on Christmas Day.
The WADA-accredited laboratory reported the sample had returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for the non-specified prohibited substance trimetazidine on February 8.
This was the day after the gold medal-winning team event and she was provisionally suspended by the Russian anti-doping agency.
But following a hearing on February 9, the Russian agency decided to lift the athlete’s provisional ban, allowing her to continue performing in China.
The International Olympic Committee and ITA have since begun legal proceedings to appeal the lifting of the suspension through the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
And if that is successful, Valieva will miss the women’s single skating competition which starts on Tuesday.
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