“Several hours ago a doping control officer took blood sample from Alina. After that she was asked to give a urine sample, however, she was too nervous and failed to do it physically. She took to the ice as scheduled, but several minutes later she had to leave the rink because a doping officer ordered her to take a test. Thus, the session was disrupted,” the Russian figure skating squad said.
Social media users were infuriated by the fact that WADA couldn’t wait until the end of the session to conduct the test:
15-year-old Alina Zagitova’s performance in the team competition freestyle skate led Russia to a silver medal; now the young athlete is projected to rival her teammate Evgenia Medvedeva for gold in the individual competition.
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Richard Budgett, Medical and Scientific Director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), previously announced about 2,500 more rigorous doping tests during the Winter Games.
"The Olympic Athletes from Russia obviously were a major focus for both the pre-Games taskforce and now at the Games. And so we can be confident that the Olympic Athletes from Russia are clean. But obviously because of the history we have to have great vigilance. Clearly there's a history of doping in Russian athletes so they're in a high-risk group," Budgett said. "In the pre-Games testing… they've been tested far more than any other athletes."