CAS releases details of Russian curler Krushelnitsky's doping case

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has published the reasoning of its ruling on finding Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky guilty of breaching anti-doping rules at the PyeongChang Olympics. The document was posted on the court’s website on Monday.

Krushelnitsky won the bronze with Anastasia Bryzgalova in mixed doubles curling at the Olympic Games in PyeongChang. On February 18, it was made public that the athlete's doping test gave a positive result to meldonium. On February 19, the Anti-doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport opened a case against Krushelnitsky for a doping violation. The CAS found Krushelnitsky guilty of breaching the anti-doping rules and annulled his results demonstrated at the Olympic Games. Both Krushelnitsky and Bryzgalova were stripped of the bronze medals.

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According to the court’s reasoning, the Russian athlete reserves the right to seek full exoneration in the case.

"The athlete has accepted a provisional suspension beyond the period of the Games and reserved his rights to seek the elimination or reduction of any period of ineligibility based on "no fault or negligence" following the conclusion of the Games," the court’s document says.

According to the document, the result of the analysis of the athlete’s A sample revealed the presence of meldonium at an estimated concentration of 8069ng/mL.

The result of the analysis of the athlete’s B-sample revealed the presence of meldonium at an estimated concentration of 5721 ng/mL.

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According to the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), any concentration of meldonium in the athlete’s sample is a breach of anti-doping rules.

Krushelnitsky has been provisionally suspended from all competitions following the conclusion of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 pending a final decision on his violation, the document reads.

Russia’s Curling Federation has addressed Russia’s Investigative Committee with a message saying unidentified persons might have added the banned substance to the athlete’s meals. The Federation also requested videos from the CCTV cameras in South Korea and Japan, where Russian curlers had been getting ready for the Olympics. Besides, the Federation plans to ask the International Olympic Committee, the Organizing Committee of the 2018 Olympics and the World Curling Federation to help it investigate the incident.