Skating legend Katarina Witt says adults responsible for Kamila Valieva's failed drug test should be banned 'forever'

• A German skater said those responsible for Kamila Valieva's failed drug test should be banned.
• Katarina Witt said on Facebook that Valieva likely followed the advice of her coach and medical team.
• She said "the responsible adults should be banned from sport forever."

German skating legend Katarina Witt said adults responsible for Russian Olympic Committee figure skater Kamila Valieva's failed drug test should be banned from the sport "forever."

"As an athlete, you follow the advice of your loved ones and, in this case, always first of all the coaching and medical team," Witt, a two-time Olympic champion, wrote on Facebook on Thursday. "You just trust that they know what is right and what is wrong." 

She said that Valieva is "not to blame" for the failed drug test, and added: "If anything, the responsible adults should be banned from sport forever."

Witt said as an athlete, "you always follow the advice of your confidants" and said in Valieva's case, "she probably followed her coach and medical team."

"I admire Kamila as a radiant star, who burst into the orbit of the international skating world, and I still very much wish she has come to stay," Witt said.

The International Testing Authority said on Thursday that 15-year-old Valieva — who made history earlier this week as the first woman skater to land quadruple jumps at the Olympics — tested positive in December for a banned substance.

The discovery of the positive test has delayed the medal ceremony for the Olympics figure skating team event.

Valieva's performance helped the Russian Olympic Committee win the gold medal in the team figure-skating competition, an achievement that the organization has vowed to defend.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport, or CAS, will now decide if Valieva can continue to compete in Beijing.