The ROC has been plunged into controversy at the Winter Olympics here after it was confirmed that 15-year-old figure skating star Kamila Valieva tested positive for banned substance trimetazidine.

Russian athletes are competing under the ROC banner in Beijing as part of sanctions handed down by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against Russia in connection with the manipulation of data from the Moscow Laboratory.

WADA initially issued Russia with a four-year ban but it was later reduced on appeal to two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Like at Tokyo 2020, Russia’s name, flag and anthem has been banned from featuring at the Winter Olympics but, unlike Pyeongchang 2018, the ROC has not been suspended by the IOC.

Four years ago, ROC was banned with athletes forced to compete under the Olympic Athletes From Russia (OAR) team name due to their "systematic manipulation" of anti-doping regime at Sochi 2014, before the suspension was lifted after the Games in the South Korean city.

Mark Adams, spokesperson for the IOC, claimed it had taken "every action that we thought was important" following the CAS decision in December 2020, insisting "we take out individuals that are proven guilty".

"It’s a principle of law in your country that individuals are allowed to be tried individually," said Adams.

"We wouldn’t try a whole class of people and chuck them out on the basis of that.

"We give people the right to be innocent until proven guilty.

"Yes, we took tough action, and you can see that action is still in place here, that we don’t have the Russian team competing in the same way as they are not allowed to have the flag, the anthem and many other things.

"It’s quite a tough sanction that is continuing.

"I think we did take tough but appropriate action."

According to the International Testing Agency (ITA), Valieva’s sample was taken during the 2022 Russian Figure Skating Championships in Saint Petersburg on December 25 before being analysed at a WADA-accredited laboratory in Swedish capital Stockholm on February 8.

Valieva played a key role as part the ROC team that claimed gold on February 7 before a provisional suspension imposed on her was lifted by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, allowing her to compete at the Games on February 9.

The IOC has appealed the decision through the ITA in a bid to resolve the case as soon as possible with Valieva scheduled to compete in the women’s singles on Tuesday (February 15).

"I am not going into the details of the case," said Adams.

"There is the immediate case and the immediate appeal and then there is the longer-term case on its own merits that also needs to be heard.

"Absolutely what is clear and this is why, through the ITA, we are taking the action that we are is because we want to expedite this as quickly as possible.

"It is a legal issue and legal issues unfortunately can be very complicated.

"For all those concerned, not just the Russian athlete, but all athletes concerned in the previous competition we need to see as quickly as we can a resolution to this, and we are working as fast as we can to get that."