Russian bobsledder who failed doping test, previously wore 'I Don't Do Doping' sweatshirt
Nadezhda Sergeeva has tested positive for a banned heart medication.
— -- Russian bobsled pilot Nadezhda Sergeeva made quite a fashion statement last year when she appeared in a promotional video for clothing brand Zasport, wearing a sweatshirt with "I DON'T DO DOPING" emblazoned across it.
The irony?
The Russian Bobsled Federation on Friday confirmed that Sergeeva, a member of for the Russian women’s team in Pyeongchang, had tested positive for a banned heart medication.
In the video, which resurfaced following confirmation that the substance was in her system, Sergeeva, 30, wears the "I DON'T DO DOPING" sweatshirt as she trains at the Sliding Center Sanki Olympic bobsledding track near Sochi.
Zasport is the official clothing provider for Russian athletes.
"If we are here, and we are clean -- we should be able to walk under our flag," Sergeeva told Yahoo Sports, when asked how she felt about the O.A.R. (Olympic Athletes from Russia) label on her suit.
The Russian Bobsled Federation's president, Alexander Zubkov, told the Associated Press Friday that Sergeeva denied taking the substance and team doctors had not prescribed it. The federation said that Sergeeva, 30, whose sled placed 12th in the women’s competition on Wednesday, had passed a doping test five days earlier.
"Federation representatives at the Olympics are starting to prepare a defense," Zubkov told the AP, saying they did not understand how the substance had appeared in Sergeeva's test.
The federation did not specify what the medication in Sergeeva's sample was, but the AP cited Russian Olympic delegation officials that it was trimetazdine, a drug for treating angina and one that's included in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.