MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Kotlyarova reportedly failed a doping test for meldonium after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned it on January 1 due to evidence that it was used by athletes to enhance performance.
"We have already requested that the B-sample be opened," Kotlyarova told Russia’s R-Sport agency. "I do not know what they can find there but you need to go all the way. I do not doubt myself. We will take every step."
The 2013 silver winner of a 4x400 meters relay at the 2013 European Indoor tournament said that concentration of meldonium in the first sample was found to be just 25 nanogram. Kotlyarova said she had finished taking the drug "long before it was banned."
More than a hundred athletes worldwide are believed to have tested positive for meldonium, including Russian star tennis player Maria Sharapova.
