Originally Posted by
SteveB
Ice dancer Ekaterina Bobrova, of Russia, said on Monday that she had tested positive for meldonium.
Ukrainian biathletes, Russian speed skater Pavel Kulizhnikov, and Russian cyclist Eduard Vorganov have tested positive for it since it was banned.
Russia's sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, said Tuesday that meldonium is popular among his country's athletes, and said he expected more could test positive for it.
This has come at a bad time for Maria. There is a backlash over the use of drugs in sport and Russia is in the middle of it. While there is no way to tell if she took it for medical or performance-enhancing reasons, most performance-enhancing substances were originally developed for purely medical reasons so that excuse could, and usually is, used when someone is caught.