South Korea's Kim Yu-na, left, was controversially denied women's singles figure skating gold at Sochi 2014 by Russia's Adelina Sotnikova, centre ©Getty Images

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) wants the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to investigate the comments of Russian figure skater Adelina Sotnikova, who claimed she returned a positive doping test in 2014 before being cleared by her B-sample.

Sotnikova became the first Russian athlete to win women's singles figure skating gold at her home Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, although the scoring and judging proved highly controversial as many observers felt South Korea's Kim Yu-na should have been the winner.

In a since deleted YouTube video on the Tatarka FM channel, the now-retired Sotnikova claimed "they found doping in me" in 2014, but "they acquitted me, because they opened the second sample, and everything was fine".

The IOC has claimed it could not comment on Sotnikova's remarks when approached by insidethegames because "there has been no doping case at the time", but the KSOC wants it to launch an investigation.

"The Korea Anti-Doping Agency is gathering relevant data and information," an unnamed KSOC official said, as reported by South Korean news agency Yonhap.

"After we collect the information we need, we will ask the IOC to look into Sotnikova's case.

"She said herself that she tested positive in her A sample but negative in her B sample.

"This is an extremely rare instance that needs reinvestigation.

"Since drug testing technology has improved over the years, we think they should be able to find something that they couldn't in the past."

Retired Russian figure skater Adelina Sotnikova was cleared of a doping charge by the IOC in 2017, and recently admitted admitted she returned a positive test in 2014 before being cleared by her B-sample ©Getty Images
Retired Russian figure skater Adelina Sotnikova was cleared of a doping charge by the IOC in 2017, and recently admitted admitted she returned a positive test in 2014 before being cleared by her B-sample ©Getty Images

The KSOC official added that World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules require athletes' blood and urine samples to be stored for 10 years, and an IOC probe "should be able to clear all suspicions".

Sochi 2014 was marred by subsequent revelations of a Russian state-sponsored doping programme and allegations of sportswashing by Vladimir Putin's regime, but Sotnikova was cleared of wrongdoing by the IOC in November 2017 after it deemed "there is no sufficient element in the evidence available to date" to establish an anti-doping rule violation.

She had been named in the WADA-commissioned Report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren in December 2016 as one athlete about whom scratches indicative of tampering were found on test tubes in which urine samples were submitted.

Former Moscow laboratory director turned whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, the main witness in the McLaren Report, claimed Sotnikova was not part of the programme.

Sotnikova had been discussing the Kamila Valieva doping case at Beijing 2022, which remains awaiting a Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal in September after insidethegames exclusively revealed she was at the centre of a doping scandal having already helped the Russian Olympic Committee to a team figure skating Olympic gold in the Chinese capital.

Sotnikova stopped competing after the 2015-2016 season, and officially retired in March 2020.

In December last year, Sotnikova was sanctioned by the Ukrainian Parliament for supporting the Russian invasion of the country.