PYEONGCHANG /South Korea/, February 22. /TASS/. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has found Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky guilty of violating anti-doping rules at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang, the court said in a statement.
According to the document, Krushelnitsky "is disqualified from the mixed doubles curling event at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and the results obtained by the team OAR [Olympic Athlete from Russia] at the same event are disqualified with all resulting consequences; the athlete is excluded from the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018; his accreditation shall be withdrawn; the proceedings shall continue between the WCF [World Curling Federation] and the athlete; the IOC [International Olympic Committee] is no longer a party to this procedure."
At the PyeongChang Olympic Games, Krushelnitsky clinched the bronze in the mixed doubles event with his partner and wife Anastasia Bryzgalova.
On February 18, it was made public that the athlete’s doping samples tested positive for meldonium. On February 19, the Anti-doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS ADD) opened a case against Krushelnitsky for a doping violation. Earlier Krushelnitsky published a statement in which he refused to participate in the planned hearings, since he did not see the point.
Russia’s Curling Federation has addressed Russia’s Investigative Committee with a message saying unidentified individuals 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 preparing 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.