Meldonium tests reignite doping scandal in Russian athletics (Reuters)
By Jack Stubbs and Dmitriy Rogovitskiy MOSCOW (Reuters) – Four Russian track-and-field athletes have tested positive for the banned drug meldonium, Russia’s athletics chief said on Monday, a disclosure that further undermines Moscow’s efforts to overturn a doping ban in time for the Rio Olympics. At least 16 Russian sportsmen and women, including world tennis star Maria Sharapova and speed skating Olympic gold-medalist Semion Elistratov, have been caught using meldonium since it was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Jan. 1. Despite warnings from sports officials that a number of other Russian competitors could have taken the substance, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told Reuters on March 11 that meldonium had nothing to do with athletics in his country.