Russian athletes have tested positive for meldonium in around 40 doping tests this year, the R-Sport news agency reported, citing an unidentified source familiar with the situation.
Between January and February 2016, Russian athletes from more than 10 disciplines were caught using the drug, which has been banned since Jan. 1, 2016.
“It is important to remember that the amount of tests are not equal to the number of sportsmen, as some gave quite a few drug tests. In the current case we are talking precisely about the number of positive tests,” the source was quoted as saying by R-Sport.
Four Russian track-and-field athletes have tested positive for meldonium, including 26-year-old sprinter and 2013 European Championship silver-medalist Nadezhda Kotlyarova, track stars Gulshat Fazletdinova and Andrey Minzhulin and runner Olga Vovk, news reports said earlier.
A total of 102 Russian athletes have tested positive for meldonium, the TASS news agency reported. Names of 15 athletes have already been released to the public, the report said, including tennis star Maria Sharapova, figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova, and speed-skating Olympic gold medallist Semyon Elistratov.
