“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:
Ice skater Alina Zagitova had her training session cut short today upon request of doping officials.
— Adam_Addicott (@tennisbanter) 19 февраля 2018 г.
She was required to provide a urine sample before hand but was too 'nervous.' — officials cut her training in order to get the sample.
If in fact WADA disrupted Alina Zagitova during her practice today for a urine sample, it’s simply outrageous. There is no excuse to cut an Olympic official practice short just bc she couldn’t give a sample b4 getting on ice.
— Marco de la Vega (@bistou_fly) 19 февраля 2018 г.
Poor Alina. This is all ridiculous. Couldn’t they wait for half an hour?
— itwillbeallright (@itwillbeallrig1) 19 февраля 2018 г.
Wada screw up her training session. They could wait for 30 min but decided not to — to stress the child up and provocate her. Clearly they are biased and working for other countries agenda.
— Ann Obolens (@Obolens) 19 февраля 2018 г.
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.
READ MORE: Canadian Journalist Under Fire for Mocking Russian Olympic Athletes
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."
