The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to prove doping by a Russian figure skater who controversially beat South Korean star Kim Yu-na for gold at the 2014 Winter Games, Seoul's anti-doping body said Monday.
The Korea Anti-Doping Agency (KADA) had asked WADA on July 21 to investigate earlier claims made by Adelina Sotnikova that she had a positive doping test in 2014 but was cleared by her "B" sample.
It is considered rare in sports doping for an athlete to test positive in an A sample but return a different result in a B sample.
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) had also asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to look into Sotnikova's comments, made in a since-deleted YouTube clip on a Russian channel in July. The IOC told the KSOC earlier this month that it would not launch any investigation into the Sotnikova case because it hadn't identified any violations by the former athlete.
After her video clip caused a stir, Sotnikova claimed she didn't mean to say she had tested positive in 2014 but only that anti-doping officials had found scratches on the tube containing her sample.
KADA pointed out to WADA that any damage to a sample-containing tube would indicate possible tampering and asked WADA for thorough reinvestigation so that "South Korean athletes' rights and the spirit of fair competition" could be protected.
WADA informed KADA last Thursday that while it had identified a scratch inside the cap of Sotnikova's tube, its researchers had determined that it could have come from a simple process of opening and closing the tube. WADA ruled out any possibility of foul play and told KADA that there would be no reinvestigation.
At the 2014 Olympics in the Russian host city of Sochi, Sotnikova scored 224.59 points overall to beat Kim, then the defending champion and gold medal favorite, by more than five points. Sotnikova's performance and resulting gold medal sparked a judging controversy.
Source: Yonhap News Agency