Team ROC celebrates during the team event flower ceremony on Feb. 7. (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)An athlete from the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) figure skating team who tested positive for a banned substance is a minor, multiple sources have told CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity.CNN has confirmed that Kamila Valieva, 15, is the only minor on the six-member gold medal-winning ROC team.Some context: The ROC won gold on Monday, followed by Team USA in silver, and Japan, which took bronze. International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams said the medal ceremony for the event was delayed due to “legal consultation.”It is unclear if any action will be taken, or if the athlete will be allowed to continue competing in the Games, given the age of the competitor.It remains unclear exactly when the positive test was taken.The prohibited drug: Russian newspaper RBC Sport reported that a sample taken in December from one of the six team members tested positive for Trimetazidine, according to a source familiar with the situation and a source in the Russian Figure Skating Federation.Trimetazidine is a drug used to treat people with the heart condition angina. It is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) banned list.“In a doping sample taken … in December, no drugs were found. We are talking about trimetazidine, in minimal proportions,” said one source, reported by RBC Sport.In a video message on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova expressed her support for Valieva, while making no reference to the reported incident.“Miracles can be simply right in front of us, and what Kamila Valieva did is a true miracle. I can explain why this is a miracle. It is a miracle because after she completed her program she won hearts of the whole world,” she said.
“This is phenomenal. We see again, in front of our eyes this clash of good and evil and the desire of evil to make the amount of good as little as possible, so that good would lose its power.
“Our people there and our people here who are involved in supporting our athletes and our teams I believe are now working in that direction.”CNN has reached out to the IOC and ROC, and the International Testing Agency for comment but has not yet received a response. Why is Russia called the ROC at the Olympics? Russian athletes are unable to compete in the Olympics under their country’s name due to sanctions from the IOC and WADA for failing to cooperate with anti-doping rules in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. However, athletes who can prove that they are clean from performance enhancing drugs are able to compete under the ROC flag.