Football presenter Gary Lineker has issued a sarcastic response to claims that Russian skater Kamila Valieva's positive doping result was due to sharing a glass with her grandad.
The scandal surrounding the 15-year-old continues to plague the games, after she played a pivotal role in the Russian team winning team gold last week.
However, the medal ceremony was then postponed after it emerged that Valieva, who had sensationally become the first figure skater to land a quadruple jump at an Olympics, had tested positive for Trimetazidine.
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency [RUSADA] lifted the provisional suspension on her though, and despite an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA] against that decision, the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] cleared her to compete in Tuesday's individual event in Beijing.
When announcing the decision, CAS cited 'exceptional circumstances' and pointed towards Valieva's status as a minor, and also the fact her positive result was produced on December 25 - and yet not announced until after she'd participated in the team event.
The authority argued that the timing did not give Valieva sufficient time to present a defence for the failed test.
The ruling was met with widespread condemnation, with perception not helped by the nature of the substance involved.
Trimetazidine, a heart medication, is usually used to prevent angina attacks, but is on the banned list as it can also enhance physical efficiency and improve endurance.
Indeed, Russian bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva was disqualified from the 2018 Winter Olympics and served an eight-month ban for the same drug.
However, Denis Oswald, Permanent Chair of the International Olympic Committee’s Disciplinary Commission, has now revealed that Valieva's mother, Alsu, has offered a dubious explanation.
She claimed that her grandfather, who has an artificial heart and takes the drug, could have drunk something and “left traces of his saliva” in a glass his granddaughter then used.
Lineker, 61, was one of many to react with scepticism on Twitter, albeit retaining his sense of humour by posting "Memo to sportspeople: don’t go into your granddad’s medicine cabinet and take his heart drugs. I know, we’ve all done it."
Within four hours of being posted, the tweet had received more than 4,270 likes.
If Valieva wins a medal in the individual event, then the medal ceremony will again be scrapped until the outcome of the investigation into her test is concluded.
