Skier Valentyna Kaminska Suspended From Beijing Olympics After Testing Positive for Doping

Corinne Heller
·2 min read
18

Ukrainian cross-country skier Valentyna Kaminska has tested positive for a steroid and two banned stimulants at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which makes her the second athlete to be provisionally suspended from the Games for failing a doping test.

However, the International Testing Agency announced the news in a statement Wednesday, Feb. 16, after her Olympic run had already ended with no medals. Kaminska was tested Feb. 10, two days before she competed in her third and final event, the cross-country skiing women's 4x5 km relay.

The ITA said in a statement that Kaminska tested positive for mesterolone—an anabolic androgenic steroid—and "the result was reported" on Feb. 15.

The 34-year-old "has been informed of the case and has been provisionally suspended until the resolution of the matter," the ITA continued. "This means that the athlete is prevented from competing, training, coaching, or participating in any activity, during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022."

The ITA also said Kaminska "has the right to challenge the imposition of the provisional suspension" and can request their analysis of the sample.

2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Candid Photos

Kaminska, who competed for Belarus in the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics and has never medaled, is the second athlete to test positive in Beijing for doping. Last week, Iranian Alpine skier Hossein Saveh-Shemshaki was provisionally suspended after he was found to have an anabolic androgenic steroid in his system.

Valentyna Kaminska of Ukraine Cross Country Skiing, Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
Tom Weller/VOIGT/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Perhaps most notable, though, is the case of 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva. After she helped the Russian Olympic Committee win gold in the team figure skating event Feb. 7, it was revealed that the teenager had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine in December. Denis Oswald, the IOC's permanent chair of the disciplinary commission, said Feb. 16 that Valieva's "argument was this contamination happened with a product her grandfather was taking."

The Court of Arbitration for Sport later permitted her to compete in the Feb. 17 women's singles event, after she led after the Feb. 15 short program. But should Valieva earn an individual medal, the ceremony will not take place during the Olympics, nor will the team medal ceremony, the International Olympic Committee said this week.

Watch the 2022 Beijing Olympics every day on NBC and Peacock and don't miss the Closing Ceremony Sunday, Feb. 20.